


Quizzical Greystone And The Basements Of Doom

by JMac



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMac/pseuds/JMac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miss Cheerilee's class take a field trip into the Everfree Forest with Equestria's most famous naturalist, Dr. Shady Stalker.  Adventure, excitement, and other things Quiz really hates are promised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Into The Deep, Dark Forest

 

“Alright, children, let’s see if I can find the handsome fella who lives here.”

  
The foals watched the khaki colored pegasus wade up to his barrel into the small pond. He seemed utterly indifferent to the water and the mud, and he continued a cheerful monologue as got deeper and deeper into the pond.

  
The foals crowded along the bank, as near the water as they dared (it had been made very clear that there was at least one crocodile here). None of them took their eyes off the stallion for a second.

  
They all watched him closely, not because he was obviously mad and needed to be kept under observation, but because he was Shady Stalker, the most famous naturalist in Equestria.

  
“Ah, here we go,” cried Dr. Stalker, suddenly standing up on his hind legs. In his fore legs he held a crocodile pinned against his barrel. Including its tail it was as long as he was. “Behold, children, the rare Everfree crocodile. Isn’t he a beauty? Let me bring him out where you all can have a better look at this little guy.”

  
He sloshed back to shore, the reptile in his grasp putting up surprising little fight. Once back on land, Shady set the crocodile down in the middle of clear spot, holding it only by the tip of its tail. The crocodile twisted and made one experimental snap at its captor. When Shady easily danced out of the way the crocodile seemed to give up; though as it lay still it gaped and groaned, as if to indicate that while it would put up with this for the moment it was not happy. “Form a circle, children. No closer than his length, or he can reach you. And please, none of you smile. For most crocs it’s an old mare’s tale, but never smile at an Everfree crocodile. They really don’t like it. No one knows why. Now, can any of you tell me what’s special about this animal?”

  
“Oooh, is it because he’s not the scariest thing in the forest?” answered Snips, without waiting to be called on. “There’s monsters out here that can eat him whole!”

  
“Well, yes, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s true the Everfree is probably the only place where a crocodile isn’t the apex predator. But once he reaches his full length at about four to six pony lengths most of the Forest’s denizens are likely to leave him alone. But we’ll get back to that. How about you, Dear?” Shady pointed to a small grey unicorn filly. “What do you think makes the Everfree croc unique?”

  
“Um, well, um,” began Quizzical Greystone. “Is it that they are cold weather adapted, Dr. Stalker?”

  
At the beginning of their field trip that morning Quiz had brought Shady her copies of three of his books and shyly asked him to sign them (Quiz actually owned all 16 of his books, but most of them were in the family library back home in Canterlot). Ever since then, Quiz had become Shady’s ‘go to girl’ when he wanted to call on somepony. He thought that, since she was a fan, he was doing her a favor.

  
It was almost too much for Quiz. She had made a great deal of progress since moving to Ponyville; her social anxiety was no longer crippling, most of the time. But it had taken all her courage just to ask for an autograph. The constant attention from the celebrity scientist taxed the very limits of Quiz’s resolve not to slip away and hide.

  
“Spot on, young Miss. But did I not ask you all to please call me Shady?”

  
“Yes, you did, Dr. Stalker.”

  
“Well, then?”

  
“Er…well, then what, Dr. Stalker?”

  
“Never mind. Anyway, the Everfree croc is the only crocodilian that doesn’t live at or near the tropics. This little guy will burrow down into the mud and sleep through the winter freeze. Step back, children, I’m going to let him get back to the hard work of stuffing himself to prepare for the winter.” Sandy pointed the crocodile’s snout towards the water and let go of his tail. The croc needed no prompting, and dashed back into his pond.

  
“Oh, oh!” called Snails. “Are there fresh water squid in this pond? Will we get to see them fight?”

  
Shady sighed. “No, Sonny, we aren’t going to see a fight. Can anypony tell us…where’d she go?” Since he couldn’t see Quiz, who was hiding behind Snails, he answered his own question. “This pond is much too shallow for fresh water squid. Also, we aren’t here to see animals fight. You should remember that not all of nature is red of tooth and claw, even in the Everfree Forest. We need to move on, but I can show you what I mean as we walk.”

  
#

  
Despite Shady making her uncomfortable, Quiz was enjoying the field trip. She always enjoyed school field trips, and some ponies would say that the duller they were the better Quiz liked them. None of Quiz’s friends would ever say such a thing, but even they might think it.

  
Quiz liked how the Forest’s terrain rolled and rambled, and there were many rock outcrops rising among the trees. Geology was Quiz’s favorite science, and she found it pleasing to see how the sedimentary layers differed from those in nearby Ponyville. As she walked Quiz had her notebook hovering just ahead of her nose, her quill darting across the pages. Quiz rarely forgot anything, but she still compulsively wrote everything down.

  
Quiz was very good at multi-tasking; but taking in the scenery, and attending to Shady’s every word, and examining the layers of strata in every outcrop, and keeping up her notes, and watching where she was going spread her attention a bit too far. Something had to suffer, and the lapse came in the thing that held Quiz’s attention the least.  
Quiz wasn’t watching where she was going and walked head first into a tree.

  
#

  
“Quiz, are you Ok?” Since Sweetie Belle first met Quiz not a single day had gone by without her at least once looking down at her friend, who was for some reason lying on the ground, and asking that question. Frustratingly, Quiz always answered the same way.

  
“I will be fine,” said Quiz. She squinted at the forest of pony legs now surrounding her. “However, I seem to be having trouble with my vision…oh. Could somepony help me find my glasses?”

  
Apple Bloom moved to stand next to Quiz and asked, “Can you manage on your own or do you need help up, Quiz?” Of Quiz’s friends Apple Bloom took the most pragmatic view Quiz’s aptitude for accident. ‘She hasn’t killed herself yet so she probably never will,’ Apple Bloom was fond of saying.

  
“I can manage,” answered Quiz. “It was a very slow collision.”

  
Once Quiz was standing Sweetie Belle stepped up to her and began brushing dead leaves from Quiz’s coat. “I really wish you’d stop doing stuff like that this!” she whined. Sweetie Belle did not take a pragmatic view of Quiz’s many accidents. Each minor mishap triggered a flashback to much scarier close calls.

  
One of the two class chaperones came and took charge at this point. “Please hold still, Quiz, and let me look you over,” said Fluttershy. Quiz suffered her tender ministrations stoically. “You’re going to have a tender spot and it’s going to raise a welt, but it shouldn’t hurt too very much if you just don’t touch it.” Fluttershy fished a jar of salve out of her saddle bag and gently placed a small dollop on Quiz’s forehead. “There. How does that feel, Quiz?”

  
“That feels quite nice, thank you Miss Fluttershy.”

  
Pipsqueak ran up to them, waving Quiz’s notebook. “I found this in the bushes, Miss Quizzical. It flew a long way! But I didn’t see your quill anywhere.”

  
“Thank you very much, Pip,” said Quiz, reaching for the notebook. “And I have several spare quills…”

  
Fluttershy reached out to stop her from taking the notebook. “Now, Quiz, I know Twilight has spoken to you about this. What did she tell you?”

  
“’Do not take notes while crossing streets,’” recited Quiz. “That is not what I was doing, Miss Fluttershy.”

  
“Don’t be picky, Quiz,” said Fluttershy, gently. “I think the same lesson applies here.” She frowned at Quiz. It was a frown that could break your heart. “Am I going to have to take it away from you?”

  
“No, Miss Fluttershy.” Quiz took the notebook and slipped it away in her saddle bag.

  
Satisfied that Quiz could probably get through the rest of the trip unharmed, Fluttershy trotted off and began to have a quiet word with Cheerilee.

  
“Here, Miss, I found these for you,” said a young colt, holding Quiz’s glasses.

  
Shadow Seeker was Shady’s number one assistant, and his son. Shadow was a couple of years older than the foals in Cheerilee’s class. He was very handsome, with a charcoal coat and a dark red mane and tail. He had not said very much, leaving all the talking to his father, but when he did speak Shadow came across as charming and witty. Half of the class had been preening for and fawning over him through the field trip.

  
Quiz had not been part of that half.

  
Shadow reached out to put the glasses on Quiz’s face but she recoiled and backed away from him. After a moment Shadow just handed Quiz the glasses and let her put them on herself. “You really shook the leaves off that tree,” he said. “Of course, it serves him right, after the way he jumped in front of you.”

  
Quiz stared at him. “Are you making a joke?”

  
“Yeah.” Shadow was grinning from ear to ear. “But I understand why you have to ask. You can never tell, not with the trees or anything else. Not in the Everfree.”

  
Quiz responded with a modest smile. For her, this was the equivalent to laughing out loud.

  
Shady called his name, and Shadow said “Well, back to work. Glad you’re Ok, Miss.” Then he ran to see what his father needed.

  
“Well!” huffed Diamond Tiara. “Some fillies will do anything for attention!”

  
“Oh, shut up, Diamond,” snapped Apple Bloom. “You know full well Quiz would do anything to avoid attention.”

  
Sweetie Belle caught Quiz’s eye and began making scribbling motions in the air, signaling that she wanted Quiz to send her a ‘Note.’

  
Quiz had created a variation of her Magic Blackboard spell which she called ‘Notes.’ Quite simply, the spell allowed one pony to send a magic note to another. Sweetie Belle couldn’t cast the spell herself; but she could respond if Quiz sent her a Note, and she didn’t have to sing to activate the magic, she merely had to hum.

  
Sweetie Belle wanted to use the spell to pass notes in class. This was an application Quiz had never intended, and she couldn’t convince Sweetie Belle that Miss Cheerilee would not be fooled by glowing magic notes hovering under the desks. Also, Sweetie Belle wanted Quiz to send her a Note every night after they got home from school. Quiz found that if she did then Sweetie Belle would want to chat all evening.

  
However, Quiz was curious about what Sweetie Belle wanted, so she sent the Note.

  
“?”

  
Soon, there was a little leaf of note paper, glowing a pretty blue, hovering in front of Quiz.

  
“Isn’t he dreamy?”

  
It took Quiz a moment to work out a response.

  
“Do you mean Shadow? Yes, I suppose he is quite handsome.”

  
Sweetie Belle was grinning maniacally as she composed her response.

  
“I think Shadow likes you!”

  
Quiz ended the conversation by not responding.

  
#

  
“Are you still angry?” asked Cheerilee.

  
“A little bit,” admitted Fluttershy. In fact, she had been fuming through the entire field trip, but this being Fluttershy nopony noticed. “It really isn’t fair. This was supposed to be my year.”

  
Fluttershy had been trying to organize a school field trip to White Tail Wood for years. The Parent – Teacher Association had dragged their feet and found excuses to put off the excursion again and again, but this year Fluttershy had been certain that it was finally going to happen.

  
There were so many wonderful things in the Wood, and Fluttershy had been just dying to show them to the children. The beavers had expanded their dam, and it really was a marvelous construction. This had increased the size of Willow Lake, and water fowl were nesting on the lake in record numbers. Fluttershy had also set out a salt lick in a wide clearing, and you could almost always find yearling fawn frolicking in that meadow. It would have been, and should have been, wonderful.

  
Then celebrity naturalist Shady Stalker had swooped into a town meeting and turned everypony’s head.

  
Shady was eager to promote his survey of the Everfree Forest. He swore up and down that he had mapped out a section of the Forest that was safe to visit, and he offered to take anypony who wanted on a tour. Before Fluttershy knew what was happening everypony had forgotten all about Whitetail Wood.

  
Fluttershy was actually in favor of Shady’s natural survey. It was long overdue and still ridiculously underfunded and staffed only by Shady and Shadow. She just didn’t want it promoted at her expense.

  
What was most irritating was that the Mayor had jumped on this idea because the Everfree Forest promised exciting possibilities for tourism. Whitetail Wood offered some of the finest nature hiking in Equestria, but it wasn’t exciting. It was just safe.

  
Fluttershy didn’t believe anything could ever make the Everfree Forest safe.

  
The Mayor even asked for ideas for a tourism motto. Fluttershy had suggested, “Come to the Everyfree Forest. You might accidentally get killed.” It was the last time she would get called on during that meeting.

  
Fluttershy stomped her hoof at the memory. This disturbed a dead leaf.

  
“There, there,” said Cheerilee in her best soothing voice. She had worries of her own. There were two conventions in Ponyville that day and all but two of the volunteer chaperones had dropped out. Cheerilee needed to keep Fluttershy focused. “At least it’s been an entertaining excursion. Shady is quite the showman.”

  
“Show off is more like it,” grumbled Fluttershy, who immediately thought better of it. “Oh, dear, was that too harsh? I don’t mean to be too harsh.”

  
In fact, Fluttershy had to admit to a growing admiration for Shady’s skills. He was the best animal handler she had ever seen, and he had a wealth of knowledge that he presented engagingly.

  
However, Fluttershy thought it was a shame he was so clownish.

  
#

  
“When you think of the Everfree Forest you tend to think of monsters,” lectured Shady. “And perhaps that is a healthy attitude. But the Everfree is a very lively and varied ecosystem. It is filled with wonderful animals, and only a small percentage of them will actually try to eat you.”

  
Faster than the eye could follow Shady snapped up something off a tree branch. He turned and held up for everypony’s inspection a bright green frog that was almost as big as his head. “There’s this pretty little girl, for instance. She’s a giant flying tree toad.”

  
The frog jumped from Shady’s hooves and took a perch atop his head. Its membranous wings draped over the sides of his face, making it look as if Shady was wearing a lime colored bathing cap – with eyes.

  
Shady lowered his head and stepped closer to the foals forming a half circle in front of him. “Go ahead and touch her, she doesn’t bite. That’s unlike her close relative, the giant flying vampire frog. You can tell them apart only from her cousin’s protruding fangs. Oh, and also from the fact that she’s not trying to get at my throat for some dinner. Shadow, could you please get her off me before she marks her territory in my mane?”

  
Shadow rushed forward to remove the frog from his father’s hair and return her to her tree.

  
Shady called on Snails. “You, Sonny. You look like a fella who knows his creeping mollusks. Did you know the largest slug in Equestria lives in this forest?”

  
“Sure,” said Snails. “Limax caddis rex, the stone gatherer slug.” Snails could surprise you with his knowledge, but only if you asked him about gastropods.  
“Right,” said Shady. “So named because they build shells by gluing together stones they pick up. Would you like to see one?”

  
“Boy, would I, Shady!”

  
“Good, because your friend is leaning on one.”

  
Snips shrieked and jumped away from the pile of rocks he was resting against. The rocks rose slightly off the ground and began to glide slowly off the path and into the undergrowth. The slug made a noise that sound like an indignant “Harumph!”

  
“The Everfree isn’t as dangerous as you have been told, children,” said Shady. “But it’s still a good idea to be careful what you touch.”

  
Shady noticed a pegasus mare whispering to a little purple unicorn, she seemed to be urging the little one to put her hoof up. He heard the girl’s harsh whisper, “Mom! I’ll look stupid if I ask that!”

  
Shady called on them. “Do you two have a question?”

  
Dinky shook her head stubbornly, so Derpy sighed and asked for her. “Shady, have you ever seen a galumpalump?”

  
Silver Spoon laughed and Diamond Tiara snorted derisively, but there was a chorus of agreement from the rest of the class. Clearly, they were all grateful someone had dared ask.

  
“Sorry, guys. I haven’t seen, heard, or found any signs left by the legendary galumpalump. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, or has been misidentified. The Forest is filled with undiscovered species. But I know of no one outside of Ponyville has ever heard of the galumpalump. I think it’s just a local legend.”

  
“But, Shady,” Fluttershy politely interjected. “Everypony who lives near the Forest’s edge has heard the galumpalump call at least once. I’ve heard it three times. Those were very scary nights.”

  
At the mention of the galumpalump’s call many of the children responded with their best imitation. “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

  
“Yes, but the galumpalump is most often heard near Nightmare Night,” Shady pointed out. “And I couldn’t help noticing the Ponyville Joke Shoppe sells a galumpalump call. However, if you are all keen to see a real Everfree Forest monster then follow me. I’ll introduce you to her. We call her Martha.”

  
#

  
“Shadow, what sort of tree is this?”

  
“Shadow, what’s this flower called?”

  
“Is my tiara on straight, Shadow?”

  
“Do you like working in the Forest, Shadow?”

  
“Do you visit Ponyville often, Shadow?”

  
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Just look at those two, makin’ a spectacle of themselves.”

  
“It’s what Diamond and Silver do best,” noted Sweetie Belle.

  
Scootaloo laughed. “You’re just mad because you want to make a spectacle of yourself!”

  
“He is really cute,” admitted Sweetie Belle, dreamily. “Don’t you think so, Quiz?”

  
“He is very clever,” said Quiz. “Has anypony else notice that Shadow seems to be the only one who knows where we are going?”

  
#

  
“Not that way, Dad,” called Shadow. “Martha’s clearing is to the left.”

  
“What’s this way?”

  
“The giant spiders, Dad.”

  
“Oh. Well, let’s save that for later, maybe…”

  
“Giant spiders!” gasped Pipsqueak. “Cool!”

  
Half the class heartily agreed and the other half went “Eww!”

  
“Yes, there’s a colony of big top spiders this way. They get the name from the huge tent like webs they build, and their colorful markings, which remind some ponies of circus clowns. It’s really most impressive, with at least 100 individuals in the colony and a ‘tent’ anchored by five ancient trees. But we need to hurry if we want to catch Martha in a good mood.”

  
Shady looked up to check the sun’s position. He could barely see it through the canopy. “Martha is a manticore with a litter of four kittens. We have been slowly gaining her trust, but we still need to approach her carefully. She has a clearing with a big, flat rock in it. This time of day the sun strikes it just right; and Martha likes to sun herself and rest while the kits play in the grass. If we’re all very, very quiet she’ll let us watch until she’s finished her afternoon lie down.”

  
Shady led them, dramatically creeping slowly forward, exaggerating every careful step, until they rounded a bend and were in the clearing.

  
It was empty.

  
There was the clearing. There was the high grass, much off it flattened as if large animals had been frolicking there. There was the flat rock, catching the afternoon sun perfectly.

  
There were no manticores.

  
“I did warn you, Dad,” said Shadow. “She’s been acting all skittish lately. I think she’s moved her den and found a new hiding place for the kits.”

  
“I should have seen it,” muttered Shady. “The whole Forest is on edge, you can sense it. Something’s been stirring things up.”

  
“Oh, well,” said Cheerilee, trying her best not to sound disappointed. “At least this looks like a lovely spot to have lunch.”

  
#

  
The children sat on and around the big flat rock and ate from the brown bags their parents had prepared for them. Some ate slowly, as it had been a long walk and they were tired. Other ponies ate quickly, eager to get back to the tour. They had missed out on the manticores, but there were still giant spiders to see.

  
Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, and some of the other fillies tried to chat up Shadow.

  
Sweetie Belle noticed Quiz staring off into the distance, her ears scanning the air. “What is it, Quiz?”

  
“It should not be so quiet,” said Quiz. “There should be bird song, and insects…”

  
She did not finish. The ground began to shake.

  
The boulder disappeared into the ground and the whole clearing began to slide in after it. Somepony screamed “Run!” but it was much too late for that. They were all soon tumbling down a deep, dark pit.


	2. Pony-napped

 

At the bottom of the pit was some sort of corridor. Shadowy figures immediately rousted the little ponies to their hooves, but before they were all standing the sun had already disappeared, the pit’s opening had been closed. The ponies were herded up the corridor towards a spot lit with torches.

  
Once they were gone Quiz stepped out of a shadow. “You are very good.”

  
“Good?” exclaimed Shadow, emerging from a dark space by the wall opposite Quiz. “You’re amazing! I want to play hide and seek with you!”

  
Quiz watched the other ponies being hustled away. She wiped her eyes. “It is…painful to hide while my friends are taken away. Yet I believe they would encourage me to do so if they could. Things will not go well for them, but capture would be much worse for me.”

  
“So, you recognize the kidnappers. You know these guys?”

  
“Oh, yes, we have met. It is unlikely that I am remembered fondly.”

  
#

  
Fluttershy did a quick head count. She had only had time to grab one child and take flight. Derpy had used her wings to push three more out of the clearing. Shady had been the furthest from anypony and had only had the chance to save himself. And that was it. Cheerilee and all the rest of the foals were gone.

  
“Mom, was that an earthquake?” asked Dinky.

  
“I don’t think so, Muffin. It was more like a tornado, except it was underground.”

  
“This was no act of nature,” declared Shady. He was inspecting the clearing. “The sod was torn up until there was nothing left but loose sand. Then it was all packed back together. All of this was done from below. This wasn’t a natural occurrence. This was a deliberate abduction.”

  
“An abduction by subduction?” asked Derpy. “But only one race can do that.”

  
“We’re nowhere near their territory,” exclaimed Fluttershy. “And we have a treaty!”

  
“Well, it happened,” stated Shady. “And they’ll probably soon figure out that they didn’t get everypony. They’ll come looking for us, so we have to get out of here.”

  
“Alright.” Fluttershy set to work organizing the children. “Everypony stay together. Do you all have a traveling buddy?”

  
“We can’t go back the way we came,” said Derpy. “Not if we’re being hunted. The path back to Ponyville will be where they look for us.”

  
Shady nodded. “There’s a little game trail that’ll take us back to town. They shouldn’t find us there.”

  
“Are you sure you can find it, Shady?” asked Fluttershy, warily.

  
“Sure,” he answered. “If you will all kindly follow me.”

  
With that, Shady pushed through the undergrowth at the edge of the path, and began trekking through the wild, unmarked forest. The two mares urged the children after him, and then brought up the rear.

  
Shady was a bit of a gambler. He knew the trail was in one of two directions, and he thought he would get lucky.

  
#

  
Cheerilee was led to the front of the group of ponies and presented to a hulking figure standing in the middle of the corridor. He scowled at her. “You are the teacher?”

  
“Yes, I am. My name is Cheerilee.”

  
“I am Chief Bowser.” The diamond dog grinned. His grin was much more frightening than his scowl. “The pretty little teacher pony will remember Bowser’s name, and Bowser has already forgotten her’s.”

  
“My name is Cheerilee…”

  
Bowser cut her off with a laugh. It was an unpleasant sound. “It is very cute how the pretty little teacher pony thinks Bowser cares enough to remember that.”

  
Cheerilee bristled. “I demand that you set us free immediately.”

  
“Do you now? And here Bowser was about to thank the pretty little teacher pony for offering the services of her little students to help poor Chief Bowser.”

  
The diamond dogs all laughed.

  
“What do you want from us?”

  
“Chief Bowser is in a bind,” said the diamond dog. “He must make a delivery tonight and he has been made very late by meddling pegasi. To return to our delivery schedule Bowser’s diamond dogs will need help hauling our product. The little ponies will do that for us.”

  
“You want the children to haul carts?! You can’t expect that!”

  
“Bowser can’t? That is very odd, as that is exactly what Bowser was expecting. Just as the pretty little teacher pony is probably expecting to return her students safely to their parents. She should know that both of us will have our expectations met, or neither of us will.”

  
Bowser raised his voice to address the foals. “If you like your teacher you will do as you are told. If you disobey you will be punished, and she will be punished 3 times over.” He leaned close to Cheerilee’s face and gave her his most sympathetic smile. It was the most terrifying expression he had shown her so far. “Bowser hopes the pretty little teacher pony’s students like her a lot.”

  
“You’ll never get away with this!”

  
“Bowser just knew the pretty little teacher pony would say that!” Again, all the diamond dogs laughed. “Bowser is disappointed. You ponies are showing no sympathy at all for Bowser, when all Bowser wants is to make his delivery on time. Good customer service is important, after all.”

  
The diamond dogs laughed again, but it was more of a polite laugh this time as Bowser had lost most of them.

  
“But it does not matter. Bowser is done asking nicely. But Bowser has one last question. Where is the Quizzical?”

  
“What?”

  
“The Quizzical, the worthless pony, where is she? Bowser does not see her. Where is she?”

  
“Quiz, had a problem with her permission slip. Her parents live far out of town, in Canterlot, we didn’t get the signed paperwork in time. Quiz wasn’t allowed to come with us.”

  
Cheerilee was a terrible liar (something she considered a virtue) and only got away with this because it was almost true. Quiz only made the field trip because her parents could afford a fast pegasus courier to hand deliver the signed permission slip. Cheerilee was only lying by omitting the single word ‘almost.’

  
“It really is a lot of silly bureaucratic nonsense, and entirely unfair to poor Quiz. Twilight Sparkle has been able to sign for her on several matters, but the school insisted on their rules…”

  
“Enough! Bowser does not have the time to pretend not to be bored. But it is a pity. Bowser was looking forward to seeing just how much the worthless pony could be forced to haul.”

  
“You…you beast!” gasped Cheerilee.

  
“Thank you,” said Bowser, who got another laugh. “Reader, come here.”

  
A slim diamond dog hurried over to them. “Yes, Chief Bowser?”

  
“You are to watch to pretty little teacher pony and see that she behaves.” Bowser turned back to Cheerilee. “This is Reader. We call him Reader because he reads. You might even like him. If the pretty little teacher pony cannot resist speaking she may speak to him.”

  
The interview over, Bowser stomped over to speak to one of his lieutenants. “Dagget, how many escaped?”

  
“Two of the bigger ponies and some of the small ones, Chief Bowser. The small ones are hard to count, perhaps three, perhaps five. The two troublesome ones, the flying ponies, are also free.”

  
Bowser expressed his displeasure by punching Dagget in the nose. “Fix this! Take Alpha and Digger and try to catch them. If you cannot catch them, do not let them get to the pony town. Waste no time, you must meet us when we reach the staging area. Now go!”

  
Dagget and the others hurried to obey, or at least to get away from Bowser.

  
“As for the rest of you!” screamed Bowser. “What are you all still doing standing here?! Move!”

  
#

  
“We must decide how best to use our freedom to help our friends,” said Quiz. “I suggest we follow them at a discreet distance.”

  
“I don’t like the sound of that,” answered Shadow. “It sounds like the easiest way to get caught. And I’m not a big fan of being underground. I say we find the nearest tunnel to the surface and we book it back to Ponyville.”

  
Quiz shook her head. “Diamond dog tunnels are confusing. If we do not keep an eye on our friends we will lose them and never find them again. At least one of us must follow them.”

  
“Well we aren’t going to spit up. We stick together.”

  
“Then let us follow, as I suggested, and hope that those still on the surface can escape and reach Ponyville.”

  
“Ok, but…” Shadow hesitated. “Can either of the chaperones find their way home?”

  
“I very much doubt that. Can your father not find the way?”

  
“Um….well, you see, that’s a problem.”

  
#

  
“Are you sure the trail is this way, Shady?” asked Fluttershy. “I don’t mean to complain, and certainly wouldn’t want to suggest that anything is wrong, but it does seem as if we have been hiking for a very long time.”

  
“I’m reasonably sure,” said Shady. He stopped and looked up, as if to get his bearings. This was a pointless exercise as he couldn’t possibly see the sun through the canopy. “I just forgot how far it was, is all. Maybe we should have left the clearing heading west instead of north. I think the trail is closer where it wraps around that side. Oh, well.”

  
Travel wasn’t too terribly difficult, as the canopy was so thick very little light reached the Forest’s floor and the undergrowth was thin in most places. But some surprisingly gnarly brambles had adapted to growing in the dark and these formed impassable barriers. There were also fallen trees, huge rocks, ferns three times a pony’s size, spider webs five times a pony’s size (though luckily so far no actual spiders), and a host of other obstructions. Travel in a straight line was impossible. The little party only managed to advance a few steps at a time before encountering something else they had to walk around. Fluttershy was certain that every time they turned to go around something they drifted a little further off course.

  
“You say this trail runs parallel to the path home on the north side?”

  
“Oh, yes, I’m quite certain of that.”

  
“And that would have been a right turn out of the clearing?”

  
Shady had to stop and think about it. “Yes, that’s correct.”

  
“Um…Shady? You’re pointing to the left.”

  
“What? Oh…er…” Shady looked at the left hoof he had been gesturing with, and blushed. “Well, if you aren’t confident we’ll find that trail this way we could just hike through the trees. If we keep heading east we’ll eventually run into Ponyville.”

  
“Actually, I think it’s more to the north-east.”

  
Shady shrugged, though he spoke defensively, “North, north-east, it hardly matters. Ponyville is a very broad target.”

  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be picky. It wasn’t my place to correct you.” There was a long, uncomfortable pause. “So…which way is north-east?”

  
“Um…” Shady waved vaguely. “That-a-way.”

  
Derpy settled to the ground beside them, and pointed. “North-east is that way.”

  
“How did you know that?” asked Shady.

  
“While you were talking I flew up above the treetops to see where the sun was.”

  
“Oh, good. Children, we’re going to go the way Miss Derpy says. Look after your travel buddy just as you have been doing and everything will be fine. We should be home … um …soon…ish.”

  
“I don’t want to go home, I want to rescue my friends!” cried Pipsqueak. “We need a plan. We should find them and jump them like pirate raiders!”

  
This raised a cheer from the other children.

  
“Um…no. We aren’t going to do that.” Fluttershy regarded the little band of ‘raiders.’ Fierce pirates they were not. Pip and Dinky she knew well, the other two hardly at all. Valor Skies, whom everypony called Valory, was from Canterlot. Her family was in Ponyville while her father’s employer had him assigned there for temporary duty. Fluttershy had noticed that Valory was very courteous, very helpful, and had no volume control. The little pegasus never seemed aware of how loudly she was yelling.

  
Fluttershy knew no more about Angel. The Princesses had sent her from Canterlot to study magic with Twilight Sparkle, even though Angel was only in kindergarten. Twilight had said she was impressed with her new student, and that in turn impressed Fluttershy. There was a great deal of speculation about Angel, most of which Fluttershy considered silly. Angel was just a normal filly with an amazing aptitude for magic.

  
“Do we have to be pirates?” complained Angel. “I’d rather be a ninja.”

  
“No!” shouted the other foals.

  
“Now, children, there are things that are perfectly nice about both pirates and ninjas…Valory! Where did you get that?”

  
“Isn’t it a beauty, Miss Fluttershy?” Valory held up a miniature bow. She had a tiny arrow knocked and ready. “It isn’t as good as my big bow back home, but it folds so it’s portable and it’ll slip into a saddle bag. The cam and pulleys give it a surprisingly strong pull for such a little bow.”

  
“And what would Miss Cheerilee say about you carrying a concealed weapon?”

  
“I know!” shouted Pip. “Let’s rescue Miss Cheerilee and ask her!”

  
“I didn’t break any rules, Miss Fluttershy! I wouldn’t! I brought my bow for show and tell and I was just taking it home.” Valory paused. “Perhaps I should have left it on Miss Cheerilee’s desk until the end of the day…”

  
“I think Val has the right idea,” said Pipsqueak. He picked up a curved stick and began swinging it like a cutlass.

  
“You really should put that down, Pip,” said Fluttershy, stepping back out of his way. “We are not going to arm ourselves.”

  
“But Miss Fluttershy, this isn’t a weapon,” answered Pip, leaning on his stick. “See, it’s just a walking stick.”

  
“Children, please, we need to go home,” said Derpy. “Dinky, you’re the oldest, can’t you talk some sense into the others?”

  
“But, Mom, I agree with them! I want to rescue my friends!”

  
“Children, we have a mission,” stated Shady, affecting exaggerated seriousness. “We have vital intelligence about our enemy and it is our duty to get safely back to Ponyville with the information.”

  
This actually quieted the children.

  
“Also, we are executing important maneuvers. We are ‘Evading Capture.’ As long as we stay on the move we divide the enemy’s forces and waste their time while they hunt us. I can’t say enough about the importance of the work we are doing.”

  
“Wow,” gasped Dinky. The others nodded.

  
“That was really good,” Derpy whispered to Shady.

  
“Um, Shady?” asked Pip. “After we’ve led the ones chasing us deep enough into the Forest can we set up an ambush for them?”

  
“Yay, ambush!” cried the other foals.

  
“Oh, dear.”


	3. Search Par-Tay

“Cheer up, Quiz,” said Shadow.  “We’re having an adventure!”

“Yes,” answered Quiz.  “And it is just as much fun as I would have expected.  I am already resigned to the fact that I shall be late for dinner.”

They were following by the diamond dog’s torches, and the sound of the pony’s hoof steps.  This allowed them to stay far enough back to safely speak softly.

Shadow gave Quiz a playful nudge.  “Come on, we’ll get our opportunity to help them.  We just need to be ready when it comes.”

“Oh, I very much doubt that.”  Quiz moved to the side to be out of Shadow’s reach.  “You seem capable enough, but I am a very small pony and I will not be of much help if action is called for.  However, search parties will be sent to look for the other children.  We should be able to signal our location.”

“I’m going to make a guess that you are selling yourself short,” said Shadow.  “Anyway, how long after we’re over due before they start looking for us?”

“Not long.  Parents are nervous about their children being in the Everfree Forest.  It was only your father’s name that convinced most of them to allow this field trip at all.”

“It’s not his fault.  The part of the forest we showed you _was_ safe.”

“I said nothing of blame, please do not take offense.”

They walked on in silence for a bit before Shady recovered.  “So, you figure we’ll soon be rescued by the brave citizens of Ponyville, then?”

“They should be setting out to look for us within the hour.  As for how long it may take them to actually rescue us,” Quiz pause to consider her words.  “That will take longer.  When moved to action in large numbers the citizens of Ponyville do not have a history of efficiency or clarity of thought.”

#

“’Dear Princess Luna,’” Twilight Sparkle dictated.  “’I regret to inform you that I have lost Quiz again.’”

“You might want to rephrase that, Twi,” suggested Spike.

“Uuuungh!  I don’t know what to say!”  Twilight would have preferred to handle the problem quietly, but she had no choice but to alert the Princesses.  Quiz was Luna’s student, and the Princess was touchy about her welfare.  And this was, indeed, the second time Quiz had gone missing.

Worse yet, Angel was also with the missing children.  When the Princesses first sent Angel to Ponyville Twilight was given orders to treat her like a regular child.  But the little unicorn was somehow related to the Princesses and therefore at least minor royalty.  ‘Treat her like a regular child’ in this case translated into ‘if anything happens to her you are calling us immediately, _right?_ ’

“I am never going to be sent any more students ever again.”

            “I got this, Twi,” said Spike.  “I’ll compose the letter, you plan your search party.”

            “It shouldn’t take too awful much plannin’, Twilight.  Most likely they’re just delayed for some reason.  We just head out and meet ‘em, and escort ‘em all in.”

            Applejack and Rarity had arrived at the library when the class was only about ten minutes late.   They had chatted with Twilight until they all couldn’t stand to wait any longer.  That had taken only half an hour. 

            “I expect the little ones will be embarrassed to see us.  They’ll whine about how we shouldn’t have fussed ‘cause they were fine all along.  But better safe than sorry.  Ah have no qualms about embarrassing Apple Bloom in the interest of safety.”  Despite Applejacks reasonable façade she was worried sick about her little sister.

            Rarity didn’t have a reasonable façade.  “I don’t know how you can be so calm!  I was against letting Sweetie Belle go into that terrible forest, and I told our parents as much.  But they didn’t want Sweetie to be the only filly left out.  Still, I don’t think the three of us should go alone.”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask a few ponies we trust to join us,” said Applejack.  “But let’s not put out a call for volunteers.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.  “We’d end up with the ‘Ponyville Militia’ called out again.  We don’t need half of town wandering aimlessly through the Everfree Forest.  But it wouldn’t hurt to quietly ask…”

“ **Attention Ponyville!  This is your Mayor!  Our children are late returning from the Everfree Forest and I am calling for volunteers to form a search party!”**

“Oh, brother!”  Twilight held her face in her hooves and shook her head.  “Why hasn’t any pony taken her bullhorn away?”

#

“I draw my sword and enter the room,” declared Big Macintosh, affecting a falsetto.

The Ponyville Hotel was hosting the Annual Guide Of Story Tellers Gaming Convention.  Big Mac and his pixie-fairy character Hydrangea-Blooms-At-Dawn were one encounter away from winning in the semi-final round of the Advanced Destriers and Delvers tournament. 

Before the game master could describe the room they were interrupted by the blast of a bullhorn in the street just outside.

“ **Attention Ponyville…!”**

Big Mac listened to the Mayor’s announcement, then pushed his chair back from the table and stood.  He began putting his dice back in their bag.  “Sorry, guys, but I have to withdraw.”

“But you’re winning!  You’re a guaranteed a seat at the final table tonight!”

“Eeyupe,” agreed Big Mac.  “But my little sis and my sweetie are out in that forest.  A stallion’s gotta do what a stallion’s gotta do.”

After a moment the rest of the gamers all rose and applauded.  Then they cheered, “For Adventure!”

#

Across the street, the Hotel Ponyville was holding the DaringCon convention for fans of the Daring Do novels.  Rainbow Dash had been waiting forever in line in the signing room, and she was final just one away from the front.  She was about to get the autograph of Professor Coal Heart, editor of The Daring Daily, the biggest fanzine in Equestria.  But the uber-geek in front of Rainbow just would not move on.

“You still haven’t given me a cogent reason why you have rejected my fan fiction!” he whined.

Rainbow couldn’t stand it any longer.  She poked the nerdish pony in the ribs with a wing and declared, “Listing, Bud, it’s obvious that he’s being tactful with you.  You got rejected because your OC is obviously a self-insert.  And the way you describe shipping him with Daring tells me that you can’t get a real date of your own.  So, scram!”

The pony turned, then immediately thought better of tangling with Rainbow.  Instead he stalked off to lodge a complaint with the con committee. 

“Thank you, I thought he would never leave,” said Professor Heart, offering Rainbow a hoof. 

Instead of shaking his hoof, Rainbow gave him a bump.  Then she set an old copy of the Daily on the signing table.  It was open to Professor Heart’s own epic fanfic, “Daring Do, And The Golden Cupcake.”

“You’re welcome, Professor, I’m your biggest fan!  Make that out ‘to Rainbow Dash, my biggest fan!’”

**“Attention Ponyville…!”**

Rainbow listened to the announcement; then, with a look of steely determination, carefully straightened her pith helmet.

Around the room, several other ponies did the exact same thing.

They cheered, “For Adventure!”

#

Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity regarded the motley crew of volunteer ponies assembled in the street.  It was a bit disconcerting.

“If we move swiftly and quietly,” whispered Rarity, “We could sneak away without them.”

Applejack shook her head.  “They’d just follow us.  Somepony has to stay with them to keep the search party from getting lost.”

Twilight was pleased to see Rainbow Dash among the volunteers.  This evaporated when she noticed that not only did Rainbow have on her pith helmet, she was also standing in a small group of ponies all of whom pith helmets.  It made them look a bit like a cluster of mushrooms.

Twilight was surprised to see a bright pink pony among the volunteers from the gaming convention.  “Pinkie, aren’t you supposed to defend your title tonight?”

“Oh, yeah, and I was going for a record, too!”  Pinkie was the queen of the Guild of Story Teller’s convention’s board game track.  Last year she had won both the Ponyopoly and Saddle Arabian Checkers tournaments.  Since the finals had been held at the same time Pinkie had to run from one table to another to take her turns.  “I was going to add the Friendship: The Gathering ™ CCG, and two of the new electronic games, Appaloosa Trail and Prance-Prance Revolution.”

“You were going to play five games at once?”

“Yep!  It would have been soooo cool!  But there are more important things than playing games.  Not many, but there are a few.”

“Well, that’s a healthy attitude, mostly…”

“Oh, and if we hurry maybe we can get back in time for the high stakes Candy Kingdom game!  It’s a 100 bit buy in, if anypony’s interested.”

“That’s nice, Pinkie.  Anyway, thank you for volunteering…”

“Don’t be silly, Twilight.  How could I miss something called a search _party_?”

“It’s not that sort of party, Pinkie.”

“It could be!”

“Really,” whispered Rarity, “We could just excuse ourselves for a moment, and sneak away.”

Twilight took a deep breath and forged on.  She levitated a map of the Everfree Forest and held it open for the volunteers.  “This is a copy of the map Dr. Stalker has made of his survey area.  I’ve identified the three most likely places to look for the foals, and I’ve color coded the paths to these locations…”

“Ooooh!  Dibs on the blue path!” called Rainbow Dash.

“I haven’t even told you where it goes!”

“Don’t care.  We want the blue path.”

“Fine, then we want the red path,” declared a blue Pegasus with a pink mane, standing among the gamers.  “And we’ll be back with the kids before you even get started!”

“You wish, Sky!” Rainbow shot back.   “We’ll find the kids first, so you might as well just not bother.”

“Focus, ponies, focus!” shouted Twilight.

“Would you like to borrow the bullhorn, Twilight?”

  “No thank you, Mayor.  Moving on, the _green_ path is the planned route of the field trip.  That’s where the children most likely are.  If they ran into difficulties there are two places they might have taken refuge.  The blue path leads to Dr. Stalker’s camp.  The red path is to Zecora’s cottage.”

“Blue path,” said Rainbow.

“Red path,” stated Sky.

“Fine!” grumbled Twilight.  “Can we just move on, now?”

Spike waddled up to them.  He was carrying a bucket filled with burnt paper.  “Twilight, we have a problem.”

“Spike, what do you have there?” asked Twilight, indicating the bucket.

“My last eight attempts to contact the Princesses.  Here, let me show you.”  Spike threw a scroll into the air and breathed green fire at it.  Instead of disappearing, the scroll burned right there.  Flakes of paper ash floated down to the street.  “That makes nine letters that have failed to go through.  There’s some kind of interference.”

Twilight had noticed a buzzing in her ears every time she’d cast a spell that afternoon.   “Perfect, just perfect.   There couldn’t possibly be a better time for magic to go haywire.  Spike, keep trying.  Now, can anypony think of anything we’re forgetting?”

“Just that we need to get a move on if we want to make the round trip before sunset,” said Applejack.

“Alright, fine.  So much for planning.  Just one more thing, and we can all go rushing half-cocked into the Everfree Forest.”  Twilight rolled her map up with two blank scrolls.  The paper glowed violet, and when Twilight unrolled it there were three copies of the map.  She told herself that the buzzing in her ears had not grown louder.  That was just her imagination.

As Twilight passed out the maps she noticed that there was a signature in the corner.  It wasn’t Shady Stalker’s.  Apparently, it was Shadow Seeker who had drawn the map.

#

Three figures held back when the ponies moved out.

“What are we going to do, Boss?” asked one.

“That’s a very good question,” was the snarled answer.  “We need to find out what those idiots have done, and we need to keep these idiots from discovering what we’re up to.”

“That sounds good, Boss.” There was a long pause.  “So…which idiots are which?”

This earned him a hoof to the back of the head.  “’Those idiots’ are _our_ idiots, and they better have a good reason for snatching a herd of foals.  I’ll deal with them.  ‘These idiots’ are the Ponyville dimwits.  You two go with that group,” he pointed, “and make sure they don’t accidentally learn anything.  Then meet me at the rendezvous point.  We have to be loaded and underway at moonset.  If you’re late you get left behind.”

They hurried to catch up with the search party.

#

“Excuse me, Shady, I don’t mean to be a bother, but what are you doing?”

Shady was walking slowly around a large tree, his nose almost touching the bark.  “I’m looking for a trail mark.  This is just exactly the sort of tree…um…we would have marked.”

“Trail mark?”

“They are scattered through the Forest.  Mostly they’re little arrows to guide the way, a few are warnings about the immediate area.”

“W-w-warnings?”  Much of Shady’s casual conversation terrified Fluttershy.

“Simple things, really; easily seen and evaded.  Don’t give it a thought.”

“Sink holes, poison thorns, strangle vines, quicksand, trees where fruit bats roost, that sort of thing, Shady?” asked Derpy.

“Well, yes, those are hazards on the list…”

“Open water, ground nesting wasps, dragon caves…”

“There are dragon caves here?” squealed Pipsqueak.  “Cool!”

“There’s just the one, and you can’t miss it, little chance of unpleasant surprise there.”  Shady thought he was being more reassuring than he actually was.

“Excuse me, but is this list very long?” asked Fluttershy.   She would have considered a list of hazards with two items too long a list.

“There are one hundred and thirty-six trail signs, not counting direction and distance markers,” said Derpy.

“How did you know that, Mom?” asked Dinky.

“It was in Shady’s last book.  He uses the same system the Royal Equestrian Mail Service used once.”

“It is a very comprehensive list, and it includes several signs we have never used.”  Shady looked thoughtful.  “’Beware of dog’ and ‘Homeowner does not appreciate visitors’ are the only ones that come to mind…”

“Excuse me, Shady, and I do hope you don’t take this the wrong way,” said Fluttershy.  “But you make me a little more nervous with every word you speak.  Could you please, if it’s not too much trouble, just be quiet for a while?”

“Miss Derpy?” asked Angel.  “What’s going to happen to Miss Cheerilee and our friends?”

“We don’t know, Sweetheart,” Derpy answered.  “But the diamond dogs wouldn’t dare harm them.  That would just get them in a lot of trouble.”

“Don’t worry, Angel,” exclaimed Pip.  “They’ll be fine.  Miss Quizzical is with them, and she’ll know what to do!”

“Gee, I don’t know,” said Angel.  “Quiz is kind of, you know, weird.”

“You take that back, Angel!  Miss Quizzical is my friend!”

“Now, now, children.” Fluttershy stepped between them.  “We mustn’t fight; it’s very important to work together.  Pip, you know that ponies who haven’t had time to get to know Quiz often don’t understand her.  Angel, Pip is right.  Quiz is a very clever pony, and if there is any way she can help she’ll think of it.  Now both of you be nice.”

Derpy let Fluttershy calm the children, knowing this would help calm Fluttershy.  She stepped up to Shady to have a quiet word.

“You can’t find the trail marks, can you, Shady?”

“It isn’t easy,” Shady protested.  “The marks are very subtle, so as to disturb the environment as little as possible.  They are little more than scratches on the bark.”

“Which means you can’t find the marks.”

“Shadow usually finds them,” answered Shady, miserably.

#

Shadow made a small mark on the wall, then slipped the piece of chalk back into his bag.  “So, you don’t like Hide and Seek?”

“I have found that if anything wishes to hide from me I am happiest if I allow them to continue to do so,” said Quiz.

“Don’t you ever jump out and shout ‘Boo!’ at your friends?”

“Why ever would I want to do that?”

“Maybe, because it’s fun?”

“No, no I do not think so.”

Shadow shook his head.  “You are a very unusual pony, Quiz.”

“Yes, I know.”

They came to a patch of tunnel that seemed slightly better lit, and Quiz stopped.  “Oh, good, we have found an air shaft.”

“Could we use it to escape if we have to?”

“Only if you can open the grate that covers it.  There will be another cover at the top.”

Shadow flew up to examine the shaft.  He tested the iron grate.  “I’m not sure I can open this.  Anyway, it’s really narrow.  I’d have to fly with my wings half folded.  I’d be fine, I’m good at that, but I couldn’t get enough lift to carry you as well.  This idea just fell from plan B down to plan Z.”

“I believe I can cast a spell through it.  I am going to try to send a signal to Ponyville.”  Quiz set her horn glowing, and concentrated.  Almost immediately, the soft beige of Quiz’s magic turned blue-green.  Quiz canceled her spell, but not before her horn began to give off sparks.

“Quiz, are you alright?!”

“Yes, though that was quite alarming.  Please keep your voice down, Shadow.”

“Then don’t scare me like that again.”

“I did not do it on purpose.”  Quiz pondered what had just happened.   “There seems to be some sort of magical interference.  It is safe down here, insulated by stone, but I fear my magic will be useless to us.  I can think of nothing that will help us, and I do not know what to do.”

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Heavy Traffic In The Everfree Forest

            “…and then the Wonderbolts zoom in and join Daring in fighting off the pterodactyls of the Lost Valley!”

            “That sounds like a very interesting story,” said Professor Coal Heart.  He didn’t actually sound very interested.

            “Then you’d like to write it?  That would be so cool!”  The Professor’s lukewarm tone did not register with Rainbow Dash.  She had been chewing his ear off with her story idea for half the distance from Ponyville.  “Do you need a written outline?  I could get Spike to help me with that…”

            “Thank you, but no thank you,” Professor Heart curtly cut her off.  “I have quite enough ideas of my own to write.  But if you write it yourself, please feel free to submit it to my magazine.”

            Rainbow was temporarily shocked into silence by the very idea of writing something herself.

            “It sounds like your Captain of the Wonderbolts character looks like me,” noted Navy, a dark blue pegasus with a two tone mane and tail.

            “She does not!” snapped Rainbow, who could never remain silent long.  “Wrong shade of blue, Navy.  Besides, Captain Rush is a mare, not a stallion.”

            “I have a story I’ve almost finished,” said Infernalo.  The young unicorn spoke in a finely cultivated manner, and he might have had a slight accent (though if he did it was nothing anypony could place).  “Daring Do finds a lost library and must take on a temporary sidekick to aid in the translations.  She is a very shy little unicorn, and not at all happy with all the excitement.  I call her Wissend Schnufig.”

            Rainbow blew a raspberry.  “Bor-ing!”  She leaned close to Professor Heart and whispered, “He’s just a casual fan.”  In fact Rainbow dismissed half the Blue Team as casuals on the basis that they borrowed their pith helmets from the convention rather than owning their own.

            “Actually, she sounds like the sort of character our fandom could use more of,” said Professor Heart.  “Please finish your story and submit it.”

            “Professor Heart, is it alright for you to leave the convention?” asked Autumn Breeze.  She was the weather patrol pegasus on leaf fall duty, charged with clearing away what wasn’t shaken loose during the annual Running of Leaves.  Her mane of many autumn leaf colors and her cutie mark (a falling maple leaf) reflected this.  Autumn loved her work.  “You’re the Guest of Honor, Professor.”

            “Programing was over for the day.  There is nothing going on but room parties and …ugh…filk singing.”

            “Oh, filking sounds like fun,” said Navy.

            “To each their own.”

            “We’re there,” said the Mayor.  She had died her hair multiple shades of grey for DaringCon, and it had utterly failed to make her look like Daring Do.  That she kept losing her helmet didn’t help.  “This must be Dr. Stalker’s camp.”

            The rough path opened into small clearing.  There they found two small tents and a pavilion.  Set up under the pavilion were portable tables and collapsing desks, all covered with papers and equipment.

            “Look, I found their mini-fridge,” called Stone Hoof, his head under a table.  Stone was quite a young unicorn, but he was big for his age.  Actually, he was just big.  Stone was the tallest member of the Blue Team, and Rainbow’s ears only came to his shoulders.

            “Oh, oh, what’s inside?” asked Rainbow, shaking with anticipation.  “Somepony’s head?”

            “Ewwww!” exclaimed all the other ponies.

            Stone Hoof opened the fridge.  “Um…some preserved specimens, I think, a case of Foster’s Cider, and a can of Wham wheat loaf product.”

            “Oh, great, toss that over here,” called Rainbow.  “I’m starving.”

            “Shut the door, or you’ll let out all the cold,” said the Mayor.  “Their generator is off so that refrigerator isn’t running.”

            “Look, Dr. Stalker was writing something,” said Autumn, who was examining the papers on one of the desks.

            “Cool,” said Rainbow, as she used the attached key to get the top off the can of Wham.  “Is it his blood soaked dying words?”

            “It’s a letter to Princess Celestia,” said Autumn.  “Dr. Stalker wants her to send a botanist and a forester to join the survey.  He says the plants and trees are important.  What a nice stallion.”

            Navy had stuck his head through the doors of both small tents.  “They’re living in these.  The cots aren’t made, but everything else looks like it’s in order.”

            “What kind of crime scene is this?” demanded Rainbow.  “Where are all the juicy clues?”

            “This isn’t a crime scene, it’s a work space,” stated Professor Heart.  “The only disorder comes not from a struggle but from work being done.  See how they left the paperwork all carefully weighted down?  They left intending to come back and get to work again.  Clearly they just haven’t been back since this morning.”

            “I agree,” said the Mayor.  “There’s nothing for us to find here.”

            “Well, we can’t just give up and go home!” declared Rainbow.  “Not and let those gaming losers find the kids.  Forget that.”

            Infernalo was examining the map.  He pointed.  “We could take this path and link up with the Green Team.  They might be interested in what we’ve found.”

            “We haven’t found anything,” said Navy.  “And I don’t know if it does any good covering the same ground as the Green Team.”

            “We might as well just go back to Ponyville,” said Professor Heart.  “If we start now we can be out of the Forest before sunset.”

            “I’m not afraid of the dark,” said Infernalo.  Several ponies agreed.

            “Ah, but it’s not just the dark,” stated Professor Heart.  “It’s the dark Everfree Forest.”

            They were all silent as they considered this.

            “If the kids can be out here in the dark then so can I!”  Rainbow ruined the dramatic effect of her statement by shaking the layer of congealed vegetable oil off the Wham loaf and beginning to eat.

            Well,” began Infernalo. “There is one other place we could look.”

            They all gathered around to see just what spot on the map Infernalo was indicating.

            “Oh, no!” exclaimed Professor Heart.  “We do not want to go there.  We absolutely do not want to go there.”

            “It’s not so bad,” said Rainbow, through a full mouth.

            Something called from deep in the forest.

            “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

#

            “Rarity, pass me the map, would ya?” asked Applejack.

            The Green Team had come to the clearing that was supposed to be as deep into the Forest as the field trip would go.  If Applejack’s reassuring words had been correct, the Green Team would have met the children on the path as they returned to Ponyville.  Applejack was disappointed, but not surprised, that she had been wrong.

            “According to this map this is supposed to be a grassy meadow with a big ol’ rock in the middle.  Not this empty dirt patch.”

            “It also says a manticore frequents this clearing,” said Rarity.  “You don’t suppose…”

            “No ah don’t, so don’t go gettin’ all dramatic, you hear?”

            “A group as large as were with the field trip would have intimidated a manticore, even if most of them were children,” said a dapper gray unicorn.  Through the long hike from Ponyville he had not loosened his necktie.  “Also, Dr. Stalker is an accomplished animal handler and has experience with manticores.”

            When the party had exchanged names the unicorn had asked to just be called ‘Professor.’  Applejack had remarked “Doesn’t anypony on this team have more than one name?” Apparently, no.

            A green pegasus scratched at the dirt with the tip of her hoof.  She soon uncovered several long stalks of grass.  She tasted one and spit it out.  “These were growing here only a few hours ago.  The sod would have been thick, but now it’s pulverized.”  Fern was an herbalist, and what she didn’t know about plants was probably unknown to all ponykind.  Plants were, unfortunately, the only thing Fern was not afraid of.  “It looks like a mass…you don’t think this is a…oh, my gosh!”

            Applejack put a reassuring hoof on Fern’s shoulder.  “No sugar, no pony’s buried here.  It’s just an excavation, so there’s no call to run away and hide.”

            “An excavator tears away big chunks of earth, it doesn’t grind them into sand,” said Tim.  He was an engineer, and Applejack guessed that his full name had something to do with widgets and gizmos and such.  A name that matched the pegasus’ cutie mark, a book over two interlocking gears, would be just the sort of name ponies would keep getting wrong.  Hence he just wanted to be called Tim.  “Also, you couldn’t get a digging machine out here without making lots of tracks.”

            “I’ve seen this before,” mused Rarity.  “But that was only small holes, never anything on this scale.”

            “You suspect diamond dogs?” asked a blue unicorn.  He gave his name as ‘Stranger,’  and he seemed to be a professional wanderer.  He was secretive, but this seemed to be just part of his solitary nature.  “I agree. They could have done this, if there were enough of them.”

            The Professor closed his eyes as he made a mental calculation.  “It would take at least ten diamond dogs.  But if they had it prepared in advance they could collapse the trap fast enough to catch every pony in this clearing.”

            “It’s a trap?!” gasped Fern.  She dove into a bush at the clearing’s edge.

            “Trap’s already been sprung, Fern, Darlin’,” said Applejack.  “Please come out of the foliage.”

            “Oh, I hate to think of poor Sweetie Belle in the paws of those ruffians!” cried Rarity.  “And Quizzical!  If that awful Chief Bowser is involved he might be picking his teeth with her bones as we speak!”

            “Eeep!” shrieked Fern, backing further into the undergrowth.

            Applejack let out an exasperated gasp.  “Bowser wouldn’t eat Quiz!  At least not right away.”

            “A good way to proceed would be to consider what the diamond dogs might be doing,” suggested the Professor.  “It seems unlikely they would be mining.  The upper layers of bedrock here are sedimentary.  The gem bearing metamorphic rocks are much deeper.  Diamond dogs could mine those for years and never be noticed.”

            “There are tales of lost treasure hidden in the Everfree,” said Stranger.  “Old magic, forgotten knowledge, riches from before the founding of Equestria.  I confess I came to Ponyville meaning to investigate such legends.  Now seems like the perfect time.”

            “But that’s all just old mare’s tales,” said Applejack.

            “Perhaps,” said the Professor. “But there are so very many legends, if even a small fraction of the tales holds truth then the diamond dogs might have found…something.”

            “The place to look is here,” said Stranger, pointing to a spot on the map.

            “Oh, this just grows more and more dreadful by the minute,” cried Rarity.  “I can’t bear to think of the children in that dreary place.”

            “It ain’t that bad, and it’s out of the wind,” said Applejack.  “But if we’re lookin’ for something hidden then we have to leave the marked path and hike through the unknown Forest.”

            “Well, that sounds adventurous,” said the Professor.  He reached into his saddle bag and produced a pith helmet, which he donned.  “For Adventure!”

            “Why weren’t you at the Daring Do convention?” asked Tim.

            “Oh, the day’s programming was all about fanfiction, and I find most of that very poorly written.  But I was hoping to pop in and enjoy the filk singing tonight.”

            “Fern, Darling, would you please come out and help lead us?” coaxed Rarity.  “We will need a pony at the front who can keep us from walking into poison joke, or worse.”

            Fern was beginning to calm down, but they lost her again when something deep in the forest called.

            Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

#

            “Oh, lookie!” cried Pinkie, pointing to a tree.  “A Royal Equestrian Mail Service trail mark,”

            “Really?” said Twilight.  “What does it mean?”

            “I dunno,” said Pinkie.  “I can’t read trail marks, Silly.”

            “Explain to me again why I can’t search from the air,” complained Sky.  “It would be so much faster than all this walking.”

            “It’s dangerous, Sky,” said Twilight.

            “I hate being down here in the trees!  There’s no room to fly.  C’mon, I want to be useful, let me do my stuff.”

            “The government of Equestria has been attempting to survey the Everfree Forest from the air for almost two hundred years,” said Mustang.  He sounded as if he was reciting an official report.  “All efforts have failed.  All teams reported disorientation, and required aid in finding their way home.  Three teams never returned.”

            James Mustang was a Captain in the Royal Guard.  Sky had made the mistake of saying of his uniform (golden armor and all) “Nice costume!”  Mustang had snapped “It’s not a costume.” Things had been prickly between them ever since.

            “They call it the ‘Green Fever,’” explained Twilight.  “Some ponies think it’s psychological, it comes from there being nothing but treetops for as far as the eye can see.  Others think it’s magic, possibly even a curse.  It could be a combination of both.  But no pegasus flies over the Everfree Forest without getting lost.”

            “I’m not afraid,” protested Sky.  “I’ll run a quick spiral pattern and come back.”

            “Oh, just let her go,” said Dirk Chick.  Or perhaps it was Dagger Chick.  No pony could tell the griffon twins apart.  Some thought that even if you guessed right about which griffon was which the Chick brothers would lie and switch names.

            “Fine,” grumbled Twilight.  “Once around, then straight back.”

            “Alright!” cried Sky.  Without another word she zoomed away.

            A moment later they could hear her, above the canopy, roar past.

            A moment after that Sky again flew right over them and kept on going.

            Seconds later she flew by again, this time going in a different direction.

            “Twi,” said Big Mac.  “We’re going to have to guide her in.”

            “Great.  Pinkie, would you do the honors?”

            “I’d be delighted!”  Pinkie produced a handful of fireworks from her bag and shot them through the treetops.

            Sky soon appeared, following the smoke trail left by the Roman candles through the leaves.  “Wow!” she exclaimed as she settled to the forest floor next to the rest of the Red Team.  “You really can’t tell anything from anything else up there.  I’d have never found you guys again without that signal.”

            “So you didn’t see anything?  It was just a waste of time?” asked Dirk (or maybe Dagger) Chick.

            “Well, what I didn’t see might be important,” said Sky.  “If the kids were in trouble you would think they would light a signal fire.  Or maybe use a mirror to flash at me.  There was nothing.”

            “Yeah, right, you can actually see that much detail when you’re going fast,” sneered Dagger (or maybe Dirk) Chick.

            “I saw that the Green Team has gotten to the clearing,” said Sky.  “Hey, doesn’t the map say it’s supposed to be a meadow?  It looked like a big sand pit to me.”

            Twilight frowned, and chewed her lip thoughtfully at this news.

            “I also saw Dr. Stalker’s camp.  No sign of the Blue Team.  Either those losers were taking a nap under Stalker’s tent, or they haven’t gotten there yet.”

            “Or they have already been there and moved on,” said Mustang.

            Sky made a rude noise.  “Not likely!”

            “We should move on,” said Big Mac.  Without waiting for further comment he started walking.  Of course everypony else followed.

            They soon came to Zecora’s cottage.  It was a shocking, chaotic mess.

            Everything that could break had been broken and everything not nailed down had been knocked over.  There was no sign of Zecora.

            “It looks like your friend the zebra put up a pretty good fight, but she lost in the end,” said Mustang.

            The Chick brothers sniffed the air.  “There’s no blood,” said one of them.

            “There are stains from spills everywhere, but all of it is dry,” noted Twilight.  “And the hearth and the fire for the cauldron are cold.  This happened days ago.”

            “Something was dragged through here,” said Big Mac.  He followed the short trail of crushed plants to the stump of a small tree.  “They cut this down to make a carry pole.”

            “So, we’re too late to do any good here,” said one of the Chick brothers.

            “We’re going to quit and go home now?” asked the other.

            Big Mac snorted.  “That’ll be the day.”

            “There’s no hoof prints,” noted Mustang.  “The field trip didn’t come this way.”

            “Oh, well, looks like we don’t get to save the kids.  That’s too bad.  Who wants to buy the first round of cider…?”

            “Oh, shut up.  We’re not going home, Dagger,” snapped Sky.

            “I’m Dirk.”

            “Whatever.”

            “Who would do this?” cried Twilight.

            “Why don’t you ask the pony watching us from the bushes?” suggested Pinkie.

            This startled whoever was spying on them, but before she could flee the Chick twins shouted “Get ‘em!” and pounced.

            They soon had her pinned to the ground.  Sky hovered above them, ready to strike if the tall, grey unicorn got free.

            “Stop struggling!” ordered Mustang.  “You are being detained as a suspect in a possible kidnapping.”

            “You define ‘detained’ as sitting on me?  Let me go, I didn’t do anything!”

            “Hi, Relic!” called Pinkie.  “How have you been?”

            “What?  Oh, hello, Pinkie,” said the captive.  “I’m sorry, but I’ll need some more time with your watch.  There’s still a problem with the winding mechanism.”

            “You know this unicorn?” asked Mustang.

            “Her name is Old Relic,” answered Big Mac.  “She fixes clocks.  You really should let her up.”

            “Oh, gosh, she must have fixed every clock in Ponyville at least once,” said Pinkie.  “Yeah, we all know her.  Relic lives out here in the Forest, but really she’s just like one of our neighbors.  Please stop crushing her.”

            “Yes, could you get these black-bottomed buzzards off of me, please?”

            “She’s a spy!” exclaimed one of the Chick brothers.  “Let’s drag her back to Ponyville and lock her up!”

            “I wasn’t spying, I was being cautious,” protested Relic.  “What would you do, if you found your friend’s cottage ransacked, and a bunch of ponies and such, half of them strangers, wandering around the wreckage?”

            “Well, that does sound reasonable,” said Twilight.  “Guys, let her up.”

            “But she’s our prisoner, we caught her fair and square!”

            “Let Her Up!” shouted most of the Red Team.

            Because of their hard beaks a griffon cannot pout, but the Chick twins managed to convey the impression that they were pouting.  Still, they let Relic up.

            Old Relic got to her hooves and began brushing leaves and black and white feathers out of her brown mane.

            “I’m very sorry, Ma’am.  I hope we didn’t hurt you,” said Sky.  “Do you really live out here in the Everfree?”

            “Yep, I live here for the peace and quiet,” answered Relic.  “Not that I’ve gotten a lot of that lately.  First there was those pegasi, taking samples and measuring things everywhere.  Mind you, they’ve been reasonably quiet and polite.  Good neighbors.  But then came those diamond dogs.  What pests, with their digging and stirring up the wildlife!  Now I’ve got all you ponies out here, practically holding a parade!  I’ve half a mind to move…”

            “Wait, back up,” interrupted Twilight.  “Diamond dogs?”

            “Oh, yes, a score or two of them,” said Relic.  “They have a camp of sorts off that way.  Luckily, I never go there.”

            Twilight considered the map, and gasped when she realized what location Relic was talking about.  “Wonderful.  What else could go wrong?”

            “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

#

            “Quiz, don’t stand under the air shaft,” said Shadow.  “You’ll get zapped again, and we can’t have you frying that pretty brain of yours.”

            “The interference will not last forever, and I must continue trying to send a signal home until I succeed.”  Quiz stopped and stared at Shadow.  “Wait, what was it you said about my brain?”

            “I think it’s very pretty.”  Shadow gave Quiz a grin that could be seen in the dark.

            “I fear I do not get the joke.”

            “It wasn’t a joke, it was flattery.”

            “Oh.”  Quiz seemed confused.  “Is this something you tell all of the fillies?”

            “Only the smart ones,” laughed Shadow.  “Most fillies would prefer I notice something else.”

            “I believe I understand,” said Quiz.  “Despite your protest to the contrary, it is obvious that you are making a joke.  Someday, when we have more time, I may ask you to explain what is so funny.”

            Shadow sighed.  “Take it that way if you insist, Quiz.”

            Quiz set her horn aglow.  This time the blue-green aura went all the way to her hooves before Quiz canceled the spell.  “My…what an extraordinary … sensation…”

            “Quiz, are you OK?”

            “Yes, but you may be right.  I might not be able to do that again.”  Quiz stamped her hooves, each step released sparks until Quiz had gotten rid of the extra magic she had apparently absorbed.

            Shadow looked up the air shaft.  “Is the sun setting already?”  Wandering in the diamond dog tunnels had confused his sense of time.

            “No, I believe something is sitting on the grate, blocking the top.”

            A call echoed down the shaft.

            “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”


	5. It's Always Darkest When It Gets Really Dark

 

 

            “Soooo, giggle at the ghostly…sing with me, children…guffaw at the grossly…”

            It was Fluttershy’s fourth attempt to begin a sing-a-long, and it wasn’t going any better than the previous three.  Evading Capture has lost its charm, and the children had pretty much had it with trees.  They just weren’t in the mood to sing.

            Derpy landed next to them.  She snorted with disgust and stamped her hooves.  “That’s the last time I’ll be able to get our bearings.  It’s completely socked in up there.”

            “Socked in?” exclaimed Valory.  “But Miss Derpy, we are scheduled for a cloudless night.”

            “There’s no Weather Patrol in the Everfree, Dear,” said Shady.

            “I could just make out a bit of pink on the horizon,” continued Derpy, pointing.  “The sun is over there.”

            “But that means we’ve been going the wrong way, again,” cried Fluttershy.  “And…did you say ‘pink’?  As in ‘sunset’?”

            “That’s right,” said Derpy.  She turned and glared at Shady.  “The sun is setting.  It’s about to get dark.”

            “Now, I don’t see how you can blame me for the movement of the sun…”

            “We are lost in the Everfree Forest, and it’s going to be very dark, very soon.  I can blame you for that.”

            “Oh, my gosh, it’s getting dark, it’s getting dark!” Fluttershy began trotting around in a tight circle, fluttering her wings with agitation.  “Must remain calm, mustn’t cause a scene in front of the children…oh, my gosh!”

            “My daughter is out here!” snared Derpy.

            “Do you think I don’t know how that feels?” Shady snapped back.  “Those barbarians have my son!”

            Angel began backing away from the adults.  “They shouldn’t be fighting.  Can’t anypony make them stop?  Please?”

            This shocked Fluttershy out of her panic.  “Oh, no Dear, no pony is fighting.  We’re just … discussing our next plan of action.  Um…with passion.”

            “What…owww!”  Fluttershy had surreptitiously kicked Shady.  “Oh, right, passion.  Very passionate, that’s us.  But no hard feelings.”

            “Maybe a few hard feelings,” muttered Derpy.  “Owww!”

            “Well…ok…” Despite the wooly blanket Angel had sinched on under her saddle bags, she shivered.

            “Oh, you poor dear, are you cold?” asked Fluttershy.

            “She’s always cold,” said Dinky. 

            “I just like to stay warm and cozy,” said Angel.  “Being cold is for statues.  I don’t see…Hey!”  A diamond dog leapt out of the bushes and grabbed her. 

“This little one is our prisoner!  The other little ponies will surrender to us now!”

#

            “Mithter Reader, why don’t the diamond dogths like ponies?” asked Twist.

            She and Cheerilee had been trying to keep Reader talking.  It distracted him and the other dogs, and allowed Sweetie Belle to remain quietly unnoticed at the back of their little herd of foals.  They didn’t know if Bowser or any of the other diamond dogs would remember Sweetie Belle; she had only been in their warrens once before, and that had only been briefly.  But it wouldn’t pay to take any chances.  Nothing good was likely to come from Sweetie Belle being recognized as ‘the sister of the Rarity.’

            Luckily, it was very easy to distract Reader.  The pompous diamond dog delighted in the sound of his own voice.

            “Oh, most of us like ponies just fine,” said Reader.  “Our trade agreement with Equestria has brought us prosperity, and we enjoy the things we get from you ponies.”

            “Then why are you violating the treaty?” asked Cheerilee.

            “Oh, but we aren’t,” said Reader.  “Bowser signed the treaty as Chief of the Barrens Pack.  We are the Forest Pack.”

            “But Bowser is Chief of both packs!” exclaimed Cheerilee.

            “So?”

            Cheerilee saw that as a dead end to that line of reasoning.  She tried another argument.  “These tunnels are a treaty violation.  They aren’t on any of the maps you have shared with Equestria.”

            “Ah, but the treaty allows us to withhold details from the maps, for our own security.”

            “You are supposed to at least include the outline of your territory.”

            “That is to prevent conflicts from ponies mining diamond dog claims,” lectured Reader.  “Ponies do not mine in the Everfree Forest, so there is no conflict.”

            “It’th till a violation,” stated Twist.

            “Perhaps, but that is a quibble for lawyers, diplomats, and negotiators to sort out.  As the Forest Pack has no lawyers, diplomats, or negotiators there is no problem!”

            Reader was so insufferably please with his logic that Cheerilee gave up.  The only way to win this debate would be to buck Reader in the head.    “Please just tell me why all of this is happening.”

            “Oh, it is part of Chief Bowser’s grand political strategy,” began Reader, shifting ‘lecture mode’ into his highest gear.  “The trade with ponies has benefitted every diamond dog except Bowser, you see.  The Chief’s status with the pack has fallen and the status of Speaker to Ponies has risen.”

            “Thspeaker to Ponies?” asked Twist.

            “You call him our Ambassador to Equestria.  The Speaker to Ponies has become the most important dog in the pack, and Bowser hates that.  So, he secretly created the Forest Pack to come out to the Everfree and show how he can create prosperity for diamond dogs without having to deal with the pretty little princess ponies.”

            All the diamond dogs within earshot laughed.

            “And you think this is a good idea?” asked Cheerilee.

            Reader shrugged.  “Some do.  They long for the ‘good old days’ when diamond dogs didn’t need ponies, and ponies were afraid of the diamond dogs.”

            “Um…I don’t know,” said Snails, who was standing close to Twist (something he’d made a habit of lately).  “We were never that afraid of you guys.”

            “Hush!” hissed Twist.

            Reader was enjoying pontificating so much he didn’t even pause.  “Other dogs prefer to listen to Speaker to Ponies.  They like how things are now, and wonder what we had against ponies in the first place.  The vast majority of diamond dogs has no idea and has never given it any thought.”

            “Yeah, not thinking is kinda in your nature,” said Snails.

            “Thnails!” Twist whispered in his ear.  “You’re a dear, but thshut up!”

            “And how do you feel, Reader?” asked Cheerilee.

            “Oh, I don’t care,” he answered.  Reader continued in a conspiratorial whisper.  “I’m just ambitious.  I joined the Forest Pack to have access to the Everfree Forest.  I see wonderful opportunities here.”  Reader didn’t share any more, he only grinned smugly.

            “Whoa, creepy,” whispered Snails.  Twist just nodded.

#

            At the front of the little herd Chief Bowser bellowed.  “We halt here.”  The tunnel had widened, and to one side was the bank of an underground stream.  “Little ponies may rest and take water.  Briefly!”

            The foals lined up along the bank to get a drink or just lying down.  Bowser stomped up to where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat together.  “Bowser’s guards did not take these pony’s pretty things.  Such a shame, the pretty things might get dirty.  Bowser will correct that now.”  Before either filly could react, Bowser reached out and snatched away Silver’s pearls and Diamond’s tiara.

            “Hey, give that back!”

            “You have no right to take those!”

            “You are gonna get it!

            “I’m lodging an official protest!”

            “Girls!  Please!”  Cheerilee trotted over to take on the thankless task of running interference between Silver and Diamond and Chief Bowser.

#

            “Scoot, take my water bottle and fill it for me,” said Sweetie Belle.

            “Aren’t you going to get a drink?”

            Sweetie Belle shook her head.  “While those two are fussing, and everyone’s distracted, I’m going to try something.”  From the back of the herd, she turned and faced up the tunnel the way they had come.

            Sweetie Belle sang softly and her horn glowed.  She began moving her head, using her horn like a sparkler to trace something in the air.

#

            “I don’t get it,” said Shadow.  “You say Bowser’s status has slipped a bit, but what does that have to do with you?  What did you do?’

            “Very little, actually,” answered Quiz.  “I merely was present for the events that allowed Princess Luna to force a trade treaty upon him.”

            “But Bowser still blames you.”

            “Oh, yes, he is quite angry with me,” said Quiz.  “It does not matter that I have done nothing to give him good reason.  Chief Bowser is no more known for his rational thinking than he is for his mild temper.”

            “I think you did more than you’re telling me.”

            Quiz did not answer.  She was squinting up the tunnel.  “Can you see that?  The blue glow?”

            “Now that you point it out, yeah.  Good eyes, Quiz.  It’s faint, but…” Shadow cocked his he to the side.  “’Z’?”

            Quiz had her head cocked the other way.  “It is an ‘N.’ Sweetie Belle should hold her head straighter when writing in the air.  I believe she wants me to send her a Note.”

#

            Alpha was sleek, sinister looking diamond dog, but he had a voice that was as high and squeaky as a living being could have without consuming helium.  His voice was his shame.

            Despite his menacing intent, when Alpha spoke the foals giggled.

            “Stop laughing!  Do as you are told or your friend will be harmed!”

            “Just shut up, Alpha,” said Dagget.  “We agreed, I would do all the talking.  Um…the little ponies should surrender and stuff, like Alpha said.”

            “Arr!” growled Pipsqueak.  “Harm a hair on her and you’ll suffer my wrath!”

            Now it was the diamond dog’s turn to laugh.

            This was as much as Angel could stand.  “Let me go!” she shrieked.  She and Alpha glowed violet, then blue-green, then Alpha yelped and dropped her.  Angel scurried to the nearest adult, Fluttershy, who knelt and gently held her.

            Alpha stood glassy-eyed, swaying unsteadily.  He opened his mouth and exhaled a smoke ring.

            Dagget turned to help Alpha, and was promptly shot in the buttocks.  “Brilliant!” cried Valory.  She’d wanted to shoot a bad guy in the butt ever since she had read a fantasy novel in which the hero did just that.

            “Stop!  What are you doing?” cried Digger, the last dog standing.  He ran at the ponies, waving his arms in the air.  “Don’t you understand that you are supposed to surrender?”

            Digger only got two steps before Pip chopped him hard across the knee cap with his stick.   Dinky kicked him on the other leg.

            “Now would be a good time to leave,” said Derpy.  She scooped up Dinky and Pip and took flight.  Fluttershy picked up Angel and fell in right behind her.  Shady and Valory followed.  Valory could fly well enough that she could keep up, so long as Shady held the strap of her saddle bags and gave her a boost.

            “Shady, Sir?  Do we have to run away?” complained Valory.  “We were winning!”

            “Now, Valory, you know we have to cover the others’ retreat,” chided Shady.  “It’s very important work, guarding the rear.”

            “Yes, Sir.”

#

            A phantom little sheet of note paper, glowing softly beige, appeared in the air just under Sweetie Belle’s nose. 

_“Are you all well?”_

            Sweetie Belle was so excited to hear from her friend that she almost squealed and gave herself away.  Scootaloo and Apple Bloom moved to stand where they could see and also block the view of the diamond dog guards.

            Sweetie Belle began to hum, and sent a reply.

_“Quiz!!!  So glad U got away!  Bowser is really mad at U!  We R fine, just tired.”_

            This was quickly answered.

_“Do you know what Bowser is doing or where you are going?”_

_“Slave labor, pulling carts.  Don’t no where.”_

_“Carts of what?”_

_“Good question.  Bowser’s in a hurry to move something.”_

“ _Bowser is on a schedule?”_

_“Yes, and meeting a customer.”_

            It took a moment for the next Note to arrive.  Sweetie Belle imagined Quiz pondering this information.

_“Please behave and cooperate, and you will be safe while Bowser needs you.”_

_“OK.  So sorry U R all alone.”_

_“Shadow is with me.”_

            “Oh!”  Sweetie Belle giggled.  “Aww, that’s sweet.”

            “Girl, whatever you are thinking of saying, Quiz is just going to answer ‘I do not understand,’” whispered Apple Bloom.

            “Seriously, Belle?” hissed Scootaloo.  “Quiz and Shadow?”

            “Hard to imagine a less likely couple under less romantic circumstances,” added Apple Bloom.

            “It’s not _that_ ridiculous,” muttered Sweetie Belle. 

            “Yes it is,” said both her friends.

            Stubbornly, Sweetie Belle went ahead and sent the Note she had in mind.

_“So, you and Shadow, alone in the dark together?  Anything interesting happening?”_

            There was a long pause.  As the pause grew longer Sweetie Belle became increasingly frustrated, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo fought harder to contain their laughter.

            “Maybe I miss-sent the spell…” grumbled Sweetie Belle.

            “Wait for it,” said Apple Bloom.

            Finally, the Note appeared.

_“I do not understand.”_

            “That’s my Girl!”  Apple Bloom fell to the tunnel floor, convulsing with silent laughter.

            “You have to love her!” Scootaloo had fallen next to Apple Bloom.

_“Never Mind, Quiz.”_

            Before Sweetie Belle finished composing the Note a diamond dog challenged them.

            “Why are little ponies humming and carrying on?  Stop that!”

            “Sorry, Sir.  We were just trying to keep our spirits up.”  Sweetie Belle finished her Note and sent it.

“ _Gotta go, Bye._ ”

#

            Quiz glared at Shadow, who had been reading over her shoulder.  “Is there any point in my asking what is so funny?”

            “Nope.”  Shadow struggled to draw enough air to speak.  “Never mind, Quiz.”

            “I grow tired of being told that.”

#

            They could barely fly to begin, and lost a lot of time avoiding trees and other obstacles.  The forest soon became too thick with trees to fly through.  Derpy managed to stop just in time to avoid clipping a wing.  The others were slower than Derpy, and stopped easily.  “I think we can walk for a bit.  We have a good head start.”

            Once he’d been set down Pipsqueak began hopping up and down with agitation.  “Why did we run away?  We had them right where we wanted them!”

            “Don’t sass my mother, Pip,” warned Dinky.

            “Angel, Dear,” said Fluttershy.  “What did you do back there?”

            “I don’t know!” cried Angel.  “I just cast my “Leave Me Alone” spell.  I don’t like to be held still.  But it’s just supposed to sting a little.  It’s not all big and glowy like that was!  My magic is acting really weird right now.”

            “I think all magic is acting weird,” said Dinky.  “It makes my teeth itch.”

            “I do feel a little funny,” admitted Angel.

            “You’re feeling it more because you’re more magical than me,” said Dinky.  There was a distinct edge to her voice.

            Shady had pushed forward through the trees.  “I see now why the plant life has grown so thick here.  It gets extra light.” 

            They had come to the edge of an open path. 

            After stumbling around the undergrowth it felt good to have open ground to walk on.  They followed the path for a while, until Shady stopped and looked around, an expression of shock on his face.

            “Shady, what’s the matter?” asked Fluttershy.

            “I…I know where we are!”  Shady sounded absolutely amazed.

            “Now Shady, are you sure?”

            “Oh, yes, I’m positive.  I recognize everything.  I know exactly where we are!   We’re…oh, no.  Everypony, off the path!  Right now, quickly, into the bushes and hide yourselves.”

            No sooner had the last pony found a hiding place than the diamond dogs caught up with them.  They looked battered, but they were still moving at a very good pace.  They ran right past the hidden ponies, and continued down the path.

            When the diamond dogs had rounded a bend and disappeared, Shady emerged from a bush.  “I knew they would catch up with us.  While we were flying along, dodging trees, they had a clear path to run along.  It’s…um, that game trail I couldn’t find earlier.  I think we were just right next to it.”

            “What now?” asked Derpy.  “Those dogs will realize they aren’t following us anymore and come back.”

            She was answered by the frightened yelps, howls, and screams that soon filled the air.

            “Ah, it sounds as if our friends the diamond dogs have found the giant spiders,” said Shady.  “Good for them.  We should move on, while they’re distracted.”

            “Um…Shady?  It’s the other way.”

#

            “What is this!” roared Bowser.  “The little pony’s break is over.  Walk!”

            “We aren’t going anywhere, and you can’t make us!” exclaimed Diamond Tiara.

            “This is a treaty violation, and we won’t stand for it!” protested Silver Spoon.

            Both fillies stamped their hooves for emphasis.

            “Bowser is not running a democracy!  Bowser did not politely ask the little ponies to please be his slaves!!  Get in line and walk!!!”

            “We aren’t going anywhere!”

            “We refuse to take another step!”

            “You aren’t the boss of us!”

            “We refuse to follow any more of your orders!”

            “Girls, this is not a good idea!” cried Cheerilee.  Before she could do anything to defuse the situation Bowser settled the matter.

            “Fine!  Bowser will agree to the little ponies’ terms.  But Bowser cannot have little ponies following him.  You are advised to stand back.”  With that, Bowser gripped a support beam and ripped it away from the wall.  The ceiling groaned.

            “What do you mean, ‘stand back’!” shrieked Diamond Tiara.  “You can’t tell me what to do…!”  Silver Spoon grabbed her by the mane and pulled her out of the way.

            That was everyone’s last sight of them as the ceiling fell in and the tunnel was blocked.

            “What have you done?!” screamed Cheerilee.  She ran to the rock fall and began digging at the rubble.  “You monster…what have you done?”

            “Bowser has achieved a reasonable compromise.  The obnoxious little ponies are safe on their side, and Bowser’s ears are safe on this side.”

            “But what will happen to them?  They’re all alone!”

            “Oh, they will be found, eventually.  And things that might eat them do not roam these tunnels.  The forest wildlife does not like diamond dogs.  The pretty little teacher pony should not worry about the obnoxious ponies.  She should calm down and think about the little ponies she still has.”

            “Calm down?  How do you expect me to calm down?”

            “Consider this calming thought.  If the pretty little teacher pony does not tend to her little herd she will have to be replaced.  And Bowser will take her place himself.  Does the pretty little teacher pony prefer that the little ponies be taken care of her way, or Bowser’s?”

            This had the sobering effect Bowser desired.  “Fine.  I will do what you ask.  But if I lead the children for you, you have to promise not to harm any of them.”

            “Of course no ponies will be harmed, Bowser would not dream of it.  Bowser cannot afford to lose any more little ponies.  The carts will not pull themselves.”  He walked away, chuckling to himself.

            Sweetie Belle was able to get close to Cheerilee and whisper.  “Don’t worry.  They’ll be Ok, they’re not alone.  Quiz will be with them.”

#

            “Here we are children, we have finally come back to the main path we left long ago.”  Shady began preparing a torch.  “And just as the sun has set.  This will take us back to Ponyville, and we’ll be out of the Forest in only an hour or so.”

            “Oh, thank goodness,” said Fluttershy.  “I’m afraid of the dark, and I’m afraid of the Forest, and I’m really, really afraid of both of those together.  I need to get home.”

            “Do we have to?” whined Pipsqueak.  “It was just getting exciting!”

            “Miss Cheerilee and the others don’t get to go home,” said Valory.  “That hardly seems fair.”

            “The diamond dogs will probably put them in a cell,” whimpered Angel.  “It’ll be a little stone box, all cold and dark.  That’s terrible!”

            “You won’t cry if you don’t think about it,” said Dinky.  “Oh, Darn it, I can’t stop thinking about it!”

            “Now, kids, none of that!  You’ve done your job and you should be proud, but you’ve been relieved.”  Shady finally had his torch lit and was examining tracks on the path.  “See these, fresh hoof prints.  A search party from Ponyville has passed this way.  It’s time to turn the job over to them.”

            “A search party!  Oh, that’s excellent!” cried Pip.  “Let’s go tell them what we know!”

            “YAY!”

            “Wait, stop, I didn’t mean….”  Shady was suddenly all alone, for the children had run off, and Derpy and Fluttershy were already chasing after them.  “Come back!”

            All the adults could see of the foals was the light cast by Angel and Dinky’s horns.

            The first sign of trouble came when that soft light turned a bright blue-green.

#

            Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara hadn’t moved.  They were standing in the dark, facing the wall of rubble, crying.

            The beige light grew very slowly and did not startle them. 

            “Evening, Ladies!  Could you use a little company?”

            “Shadow!”

            “Shadow, you’ve come to rescue us!”

            “Shadow, you’re our hero!”

            The fillies threw themselves at Shadow, all but smothering him.  “Girls, please, it’s nothing.  I just happened to be in the neighborhood.”  Shadow was clearly enjoying the attention.

            “I must look a terrible mess,” exclaimed Diamond, trying to dry her eyes.

            “You both look fine,” said Shadow.  Then an afterthought occurred to him.  “Oh, and Quiz is here, too.”

            “What?  Oh, hello, Quiz-ik-al,” sneered Diamond.  “Nice one, hiding while we all got captured!”

            “Hi, Quiz,” said Silver.  “I’m glad you got away.  Bowser was looking for you.”

            “Thank you, Silver Spoon.  As you and Diamond Tiara have discovered, Chief Bowser’s temper is not pleasant.”

            “But that nightmare’s over now,” said Diamond.  “Shadow’s going to lead us all home now.”

            “Um…yeah, that might be a problem.”  Shadow looked pained.  “It’s dark now, and I wouldn’t want us up in the Forest after dark.  It’s a lot safe down here.”

            “Oh.  I guess we could make ourselves cozy here until daylight.”  Diamond batted her eyelashes at Shadow.  “Don’t you think we could make ourselves cozy?”

            “Well, yeah, that might be nice,” muttered Shadow.  “But that’s a problem, too.  We have to keep an eye on your friends.  If we lose them they may never be rescued.”

            “What?”  Diamond arched an eyebrow.  It was a warning, just as a cobra opening its hood is a warning.

            “Well, yeah.  There’s a tunnel running parallel to this one, we could cross over to that to get around this blockage, then catch up with them…”

            “You want us to follow them?!” shrieked Diamond.  “We just got away from them!”

            “He’s right, Diamond,” said Silver.  “We shouldn’t let the others get lost.”

            “Actually, I believe Shadow should guide you home,” said Quiz.  “You could travel most of the way underground where it is safe, and you would most likely run into a search party on the way.  I will follow Miss Cheerilee and our friends.”

            “Oh, that sounds good, let’s do that,” cried Diamond.  “We go home, and Quizzical stays here.  That’s a great plan!”

            “No, Quiz, you’d be out here all alone,” gasped Silver.

            “I am not afraid to be alone,” said Quiz.

            “We don’t split up, Quiz,” stated Shadow.  His tone left no room for argument.

            “Fine!  Whatever!  Just give me a moment to get set.” Diamond drew something from her bag and set it carefully on her head.  “There, I guess I’m ready.  We can go and find this stupid parallel tunnel of yours.”

            Shadow stared at her.  “You carry a spare tiara?”

            “Yes, yes she does,” said Silver.

            The little party set off; Shadow with a filly close on each side, Quiz following behind.

                                                               


	6. Zapped!

 

            Shadow peeked around a corner, then turned back to where the others were waiting.  “We’ve caught up to your friends.  Once we turn this corner we’ll fall in behind them again, and it’ll be just like we never lost them.  Quiz, put your light out.”

            “Do we have to be in the dark?” whined Silver Spoon.  “It’s scary.”

            “We wouldn’t if we weren’t tracking those stupid diamond dogs,” grumbled Diamond Tiara.

            “Aww, cheer up, Girls.  We’re having an adventure!”  Shadow gave both fillies a hug.

            “Well…it is kind of exciting,” admitted Diamond.  “Ok, we’ll do it for you, Shadow.”

            “Excellent, I knew I could count on you.”  Shadow paused to consider something.  “We may need you to hang back a bit, Di.  That pretty coat of yours might stand out.  Silvey, you look good to go.”

            “Some ponies can totally rock a dark coat,” giggled Silver, preening a bit for Shadow.

            “And some can’t,” sneered Diamond.  She was looking right at Quiz.

            “Allow me to walk ahead of you, Diamond Tiara.   You may use me for concealment.”  Quiz had nothing more to say, and began walking down the tunnel.

#

            “Shhhh! Don’t wake those, they bite,” said Fern, indicating a cluster of snoring flowers.  “The orange ones can burn you.”

            “What are they?” asked Tim.

            “Snap dragons.”  Despite being in the dark, scary forest, Fern was having the time of her life.  “Oh, this is wonderful.  I’m seeing plants I’ve only read about.  There are even some I don’t recognize.”

            “Fern, Darling, don’t take this the wrong way, but is everything growing out here a threat to life and limb?” asked Rarity.

            “Oh, no, not at all.  Most of the plants are very nice.  Um, don’t touch any vines like the one growing on this rock.”

            “Do I want to know?” asked Applejack, imagining constrictor vines dragging her into the ground.

            “It’s called ‘scholastic ivy.’  You can brew a tea from the leaves that aides in learning.  Unfortunately, most ponies are allergic to it.”  Fern broke a leaf off the vine and began chewing it slowly.

            Each pony had a light source.  Applejack carried a torch and each of the unicorns used magic.  Tim had a crank powered flashlight he’d designed himself.  Fern; who was afraid of open flames, magic, and electricity; used a bit of old wood with bioluminescent foxfire on it.  The forest was so thick nothing could cast light very far before it was broken into shadows.  At least the ponies could dispel the darkness enough to avoid tripping.

            “We have left the map,” said Stranger.  “Here in the deep Forest maps have little meaning.  I have seen aerial maps where the rivers are drawn in blue hash marks.  Terrain features smaller than lakes disappear under the canopy.”

            “Most pegasi hate this place,” said Tim.

            “It’s not so bad, if you don’t mind walking,” said Fern.  “But the undergrowth is going to keep getting more and more dense.  The plants are adapted to grow in the dark out here.”

            Luckily for the little party Applejack had found a dry creek bed to use as a path.

            “Really, there is only one landmark you can use reliably,” said the Professor.

            “Unless you count the escarpment and the gorge,” pointed out Rarity.  “Mind you, one comes upon those edges so suddenly you don’t see them until you’ve fallen off.”

            “Eeep!” squeaked Fern.

            “Easy, Fern, you’ll be fine,” said Applejack.  “Unless you forget you have wings.”

            “Oh, right,” muttered Fern, blushing.

            Something called from the woods, “Ooogie, oogie, oogie!”

            It was answered by more calls from all around them.

            “Eeeep!”

            “Steady, now, Fern, steady,” soothed Rarity.  “There is no place you can run to that is safer than right here beside us.”

            “That is just the dangedest thing,” said Applejack.  “Half of Ponyville has heard the galumpalump call, or at least thinks they did.  But it’s always just one call in the night.”

            “There are old tales about them,” said Stranger, levitating a binder of loose sheets from his bag.  “You only find them in the oldest journals; from when the Everfree was new and had not yet earned its reputation.  There was more exploration then.  Explorers only stopped going into the Everfree after many of them stopped coming back.”

“Eeeep!”

            “Most of the tales are useless nonsense,” stated Stranger, leafing through the binder.  “Advice to ‘beware the moon,’ warnings against leaving food out after midnight, other silly things the writer was clearly just making up.  But I recall something about the galumpalumps gathering….  Here it is.  It is the journal of a mare named Strawberry.  In her day they were apparently called ‘gumper lumps.’  She says they gather in large numbers before storms.  She places quotation marks around the word ‘storms.’”

            “Meaning Strawberry was not speaking literally,” said the Professor.  “And something was happening other than ordinary rain.”

            “Yes,” said Stranger.  “But she does not explain herself.  That is not useful.”

            “Bother!” grumbled Rarity.  She was not paying attention to the conversation.  “There is something in the air tonight, and it keeps turning my pretty blue magic aura a tacky shade of green!”

#

            “I can see something glowing on the horizon,” Autumn called from the tree tops.  The Blue team’s three pegasi had been taking turns flying up to take a peek.

            “Is it a signal fire?” asked Stone.

            Autumn fluttered back to the forest floor.  She shook her head.  “It’s blue-green, like an aura, I guess.  If you squint you can see it everywhere; in the clouds, outlining the trees…”

            “Um, Autumn, you have a little something on you, there,” said Rainbow.

            Autumn’s wings were glowing.  “Ewww!”  With a fierce flutter she shook off the magic aura, and it went swirling away to dissipate and disappear.

            “I think that’s just lovely,” gasped the Mayor.  “We need photographs of this, for the cover of our tourist brochures.”

            “Don’t you think the whole idea of tourism in the Everfree Forest is dead?” snapped Professor Heart.

            “A soon as the children are found safely we can begin damage control,” said the Mayor.  “We can take steps to show that nothing like this will go wrong again…”

            “The first step would be to stay out of the Everfree Forest!”

            “Geeze,” Navy whispered to Stone.  “You would think somepony who writes Daring Do fanfic would be a little more adventurous.”

            “If this aura is truly magic it makes sense that Autumn could see the glow over the horizon,” said Infernalo.  “That is where the magic would be strongest.  If you are certain that is where we wish to go I have a spell that could take us there immediately.”

            “Immediately?  I like the sound of that,” said Rainbow.

            “What do you plan to do, open a portal?” shouted Professor Heart.  “Because with magic acting unpredictably the obvious course of action is naturally to experiment with powerful and dangerous spells.”

            “Professor Heart, your sarcasm grows tiresome,” stated Infernalo.  Without another word to anypony he began casting his spell.

            Briefly, the entrance to a dark tunnel did appear, floating in the air in front of Infernalo.  That same instant the woods as far as the ponies could see was filled with vivid pyrotechnic effects, so blinding and garish none of them were quite sure what it was they saw.  Infernalo dispelled his magic, and they were plunged into darkness again.

            “Well, that wasn’t right,” said Infernalo, clearly shaken.  “That was so far from right it wasn’t even wrong.  I’m not sure how that was even possible.”

“That was just stunning,” cried the Mayor.  “Can you do that again?  For festivals and celebrations?”

            “Not on purpose, no.”

            “What does it mean?” asked Stone.

            “It means we’re walking,” said Rainbow.

            Excited cries of “Oogie, oogie, oogie!” echoed all around them.

#

            “That’s just remarkable!” exclaimed Twilight.  “I thought the galumpalump stories were just the locals teasing me because I’m not from Ponyville.”

            “Oh, dear,” muttered Old Relic.  “They should still be solitary.  If the galumpalumps have started gathering that means a storm is coming early, and we are caught out in the open.”

            Relic rummaged in her bag until she produced a champagne flute, which she upended and set over her horn.  “Dearie, I’m afraid I only have one insulator,” she told Twilight.  “You might want to duck.”

#

            Suddenly, the whole world seemed to turn blue-green.  A shock wave ripped through the forest, but it didn’t seem to actually do anything.  The cries of the galumpalumps became deafening, but they soon settle down and the forest became silent.

            Most of the ponies weren’t effected at all, and were fine once the purple spots cleared from their vision.

            Every unicorn in the Everfree Forest at that moment, however, was knocked to their knees.

#

“What the hay was that!” yelled Applejack.

“And what has it done to my hair!” cried Rarity.  She began looking for her hand mirror, but Applejack put a calming hoof on her shoulder.

“You’ll be happier if you don’t look, Sugar Cube.”

The Professor swayed unsteadily, and he was breathing hard, but he was able to gasp, “That was a strike from a magical storm, just exactly in the manner that magical theorists insist never happens.”

            “W-w-will it happen again?” stammered a bush.

            “Oh, yes, Fern,” answered the Professor.  “It is difficult to be certain, as this is supposed to be impossible, after all.  However, Clover the Clever’s fifth equation implies that magic may act similarly to electro-magnetism.  That seems apropos to our present situation.  If we think of what happened as a magical analogue to lightning then there should be more strikes before the storm is over.”

            He suddenly sat down heavily, too dizzy to lecture further.

            “So the whole forest is a magic capacitor, building up for another discharge,” said Tim.  He was helping Stranger to stand.

            “I fear as much,” said Stranger.  He had to lean on Tim for support.  “We did not experience a direct hit.  But we must get to cover.”

            “Agreed,” said the Professor, from where he laid on the ground.  “To continue the lightning analogy, the strike hit a magic source stronger than us, but there was, and will be side rivulets of magic that will be attracted to us.  Also, I sense the atmosphere is saturated.  Any magic we absorb will have no way to dissipate.”

            “I think I can help with that,” said Tim.  He found a spool of something in his pack.

            “So, the more powerful your magic is the more a strike will use you as a ‘ground,’ as it were?” asked Rarity.  “Oh, dear!  Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear!”

            “I know what you’re thinkin’, Rare,” said Applejack.  “Twilight is out here.”

#

            “I don’t feel so good,” moaned Twilight.

            The Chick brothers laughed and pointed.  “You look like a bushwoolie!”

            “You’ll want to bleed off a little of the excess you soaked up, Dearie,” Relic told Twilight.  “Go ahead, you’ll feel better.”

            Twilight sat back and fired a bolt of energy into the air.  Burnt leaves drifted down. The enchanted static that was making her coat stand on end dissipated, and she looked a little less like a purple cotton ball.

 “Thank you, that does help.  What happened?”

            “Magic storm,” said Relic.  “We get them out here.  This one’s come about a month early, and it looks to be worse than usual.”

            “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”  Though she was recovering, Twilight still did not feel ready to stand. 

            “That’s because you egg-headed unicorns worry about things like how many quantum thaums can fit on the end of a pin, and other such nonsense,” said Relic, with a snort.  “You could learn something more practical if you just bothered to ask somepony like me, who lives out here.”

            “Will that happen again?” asked Mustang. 

            “Oh, yes, this could go on all night.  Most of the strikes will hit over that way.”  Relic pointed.  “There’s a grove of wild zap apples there, and some of those trees are close to a hundred feet tall.  It’s good for them.”

            “What about us?” asked Sky.

            “No magic, no problem, you’ll never notice a thing” said Relic.  Then she indicated Twilight.  “This one, on the other hoof, is a little magic lightning rod.  They’ll be side branches off every strike that’ll knock her on her flank.  We need to get her to shelter.”

            Pinkie went to Twilight and gave her a big hug.  “C’mon, Twi, you’ll be fine.  Don’t cry.”

            “I…I’m worried about my students.  What is this doing to Quiz and Angel?  They have no protection!”

            “So we find them,” declared Sky.  “We should be getting close, right?  Closer than the Blue Team, anyway.”

#

            Infernalo leaned against a tree and gasped for air.   He began to drone, as if repeating a lesson, “Magic sometimes acts as if it is a particle, sometimes as if it is a wave, and sometimes it acts like a donut…”

            “He’s babbling,” said Navy.  “Are you alright, Stone?”

            “Yeah, I’m just a little dizzy,” answered Stone Hoof.  “I don’t use a lot of a magic, not like Infernalo.  I usually think it’s easier just to pick something up and carry it than to use a spell.  That seems to make a difference in how whatever that was affected you.”

            “I will be well,” said Infernalo.  “My head is already clearing.”

            “Will you finally take my advice?” demanded Professor Heart.  “Are you ready to go back to Ponyville?”

            “Not a chance,” snapped Rainbow. “Some of the kids are unicorns; they need us more than ever.  And we’re going to get to them before the Red Team!”

#

            “Wow, that was really interesting!” exclaimed Snails.  “Can we do that again?”

            “I hope you are ok, Thnails,” said Twist, who was the only thing keeping him on his hooves.  “But if you are faking jutht to get me to hold you I am going to clobber you.”

            “No, I’ll be fine in a moment,” said Snails.  “Not that this isn’t nice…oww!”

            “I’m Ok, too,” gasped Snips, from the floor.

            “What happened?” asked Cheerilee.

            “Magic lightening,” said Bowser.  “Diamond dogs do not care much about that, we use no magic.  But it seems that little unicorns do not like it at all.  Bowser will be kind, as he sees no reason to fry the little unicorns.  We will move to a lower level.  The rock will protect the delicate little unicorn’s heads.”

            Scootaloo whispered to Sweetie Belle.  “Belle, are you alright?”

            “Yeah.  I wasn’t singing, and I don’t channel magic without music.” Despite her reassurance, Sweetie Belle looked like she’d stuck her horn in a light socket.  She pointed to Snips and Snails.  “But that flash effected these two; what could it do to a unicorn who’s actually good with magic?”

            She looked back up the tunnel behind them, but all she saw was darkness.  “Poor Quiz.  I’m so worried about her I could just cry.”

#

            “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

            Blind, and staggering, Quiz had stumbled into Diamond Tiara.  Diamond jumped aside, leaving nothing holding Quiz up.  She went over like a felled tree.

            “Diamond, she’s sick, and you just let her fall!” Shadow gasped.

            “Oh, don’t worry, Shadow, it’s just Quiz.”  Diamond went over and leaned on him.  “She hurts herself all the time, she’s used to it.”

            Quiz had managed to sit up.  “That was a very extraordinary phenomenon.  However, I do not wish to do that again.”

            “See, Shadow, there was nothing to worry about.  She’s indestructible,” said Diamond.  “Like a cockroach.”

            “I do have to protest, Diamond Tiara,” said Quiz.  “I do _not_ have accidents so often I am used to being hurt.”

            “Yeah, Quiz, you kinda do,” said Silver Spoon.

            “I am fine, and I would notice if I were not,” said Quiz, hardly sounding defensive at all.  “I have other things to worry about.  The flash was unpleasant, here in the tunnels where there is protection.   It troubles me to imagine what that was like on the surface.  I know that Miss Twilight is in the forest searching for us tonight.   She would not stay away.   Also, young Angel is a very precocious unicorn; if she is still in the forest the flash would harm her severely.”

            “Don’t worry, Quiz,” said Shadow.  “My Dad led the little ones back to Ponyville hours ago.”  _I hope,_ thought Shadow.  _There’s been enough time for even Dad to find his way, hasn’t there?_

#

            Fluttershy had an ear pressed against Angel’s chest.  The little unicorn lay very still.

            “She’s breathing,” Fluttershy finally said.  “But her poor heart’s just racing.  And she’s so warm!”

            Dinky wasn’t even trying not to cry.  “Angel’s hurt because her magic is so much stronger than mine.  Oh, Momma, I was jealous of her!  I feel so bad!”

            “Shhh!  Don’t think like that,” soothed Derpy.  “That just doesn’t help.”

            Dinky tried to remember what Twilight had taught her.  It was difficult to think.  “Angel must have absorbed more magic than she can handle.  She can’t release it unless she wakes up, and it won’t just fade away.  There’s no place for it to go, the air is saturated with magic!”

            “I don’t know how to revive her,” said Fluttershy.  The others could barely hear her speak.  “I’m very frightened.”

            _Time to be brave,_ Dinky told herself.  It wasn’t easy.  She was still a little dizzy, and she was sick with worry.  But Dinky managed to clear her head enough for an idea to emerge.  _What if what makes me a bad magician is just what I need to help Angel?_

            “I want to try something,” declared Dinky.  She touched Angel’s horn with her own.

            “Muffin, stop, that looks dangerous!” cried Derpy.  But Dinky had already begun.

            Dinky’s problem with magic was at the most fundamental level.  There is some magic almost everywhere, but to use it a unicorn must be able to find it and channel it.  Dinky could never seem to gather up enough magic to cast a decent spell.

            But this was different.  “There’s so much!” gasped Dinky, her eyes wide with awe. “This is easy!”

            A more experienced unicorn would have had to fight to control the torrent.  Dinky hadn’t learned how to be that open to magic yet.  She was able to let it trickle in.

Dinky began to glow.  The air around her crackled.

            “That’s enough, stop now,” cried Derpy.  “Please, Muffin!”

            “Just a little more.”  Dinky refused to quit until she was sure Angel would be ok.

            Angel’s eyes fluttered.  “Are we home yet?” she asked, sleepily.

            “Dinky, you did it!” yelled Pip.  “Way to go!”

            “Yay!”

            “No, don’t touch me.”  Dinky waved her friends back as they surged forward to give her a group hug.  “Whoa, I’m totally stuffed.  Stay back until I can get rid of some of this.”

            A unicorn gets rid of magic by using it.  Dinky reached out to a boulder the size of a cart and tried to levitate it.  She didn’t expect to actually lift it.  Dinky didn’t think the rock would move at all.  She thought she would just tug at it with nothing happening, until all the excess magic was burnt off.

            Not only did the boulder rise into the air, it glowed cherry red.  Then it melted.

            What was now a pool of lava blocked the path back to Ponyville.

            “Um, did I do that?” asked Dinky.

            The forest was still dry from the long summer.  The lava ignited first the brambles, then every tree it touched.  Soon there was a terrifying blaze.  The wind was blowing the fire towards the ponies.

            “Run!”

           

            


	7. Lucky Little Ponies

**Quizzical Greystone And The Basements Of Doom**

**Chapter 7  Lucky Little Ponies**

            “See, Girls, this isn’t so bad,” said Shadow.  “A nice walk in the evening, good company, I’d say we were lucky…um, Quizzie?  There aren’t any trees down here to walk into, but you still really should be paying attention.”

            “What?  Oh, dear, I am sorry, Shadow.”  Quiz had been making entries in her notebook.  “I do understand that our situation calls for focus, but I could not resist.  It is just that I find one gains extraordinary insights about friendship when one is force into the company of those who do not like you.”

            Diamond Tiara answered this with a derisive snort.  Silver Spoon looked away.

            “You could hurt a pony’s feelings saying things like that, Quizzie,” noted Shadow.  “So, where do I fit in your observations?”

            “You?  Oh, my, I suppose, if this were an experiment then you would be the neutral control.”

            “Oh, really?”  It was impossible to tell from Shadow’s tone whether he was angry, or about to laugh.

            Diamond sneered, “Gee, Shadow, she thinks pretty highly of you, doesn’t she?”

            Quiz actually blushed.  “Please do not take offense, Shadow.  It is just that I hold the title ‘friend’ very dear.  It is precious to me, and I do not bestow it lightly.  We have only just met.”

            “Well, I also hold the title friend precious and dear,” stated Shadow.  “That’s why I bestow it freely, every chance I get.”

            “Oh, my,” muttered Quiz.  “That is quite extraordinary.  I shall have to make a note of that.”

            “Quiz!”

            “Just a quick note, and I will put it away.  I promise.”

#

            The brush lining the path tore at the tips of Derpy’s wings and she winced.  The trail they were running along was too narrow for a pegasus to         fly.  But gusts of wind from the fire would shower them with cinders, and Derpy flared her wings to protect the children ahead of her.

            The ponies easily stayed ahead of the fire on the ground.  But the blaze had reached the tree tops, where the wind drove the fire across the crowded canopy.  The fire above them would soon overtake the ponies.

            The path ended at a field of reeds and cattails.  “Good news, folks,” said Shady.  “We have come to the marsh at the edge of Terminal Lake.”

            “Terminal?”

            “It’s just a name, Fluttershy.  It just means we’ve come to the end of the road.”

            “That doesn’t sound any better, Shady.”

            “This place is no more dangerous than anywhere in the Forest.”

            “Please stop reassuring me, Shady.”

            “All I mean is…” Shady stopped suddenly, and pointed at Derpy.  “You might want to splash a little water on that, Dear.”

            “Momma!  You’re on fire!” cried Dinky.

            “What?  Oh, dear.  But no, Muffin, I’m not on fire.  I’m just smoldering a little.”  Everywhere the cinders had touched they had burned holes through the barbs of Derpy’s feathers.  Her wings were a smoking ruin.  Since the heat had reached the sensitive roots of the shafts, and Derpy had never felt a thing.

            “I’ll stop smoking in a moment, don’t mind me,” said Derpy.  A vigorous flap of her wings shed a cloud of cinder dust and burnt feathers.

            “Well, clipped wings or not, we should be safe now,” said Shady, somewhat taken aback. “The Forest runs right up to the bank of Terminal Lake on the south side…”

            “That’s north, Shady.”

            “Um, well, yes, north.  The marsh goes around the other side of the lake.  The wind is blowing the fire the other way, through the trees.  If we just circle the lake to the right…”

            “That’s the left, Shady.”

            “Yes, left, thank you Fluttershy.   Anyway, we stay in the marsh and we shall reach the far side of the lake.  Step lightly, everypony.  Stay where the water is shallow, no more than a hoof deep.  Large constrictor snakes like to lay in ambush where it’s deeper…”

            “Eeep!”  Fluttershy cringed.  “Shady, is the next thing you say going to be about crocodiles?”

            “Well, now that you mention it, we better keep as far back from the bank as we can.”  Shady began leading them through the marsh.  “I can only wrestle one of them at a time.  That might be why the crocs have taken to hunting in threes…”

            “The more casually you talk about these things the more you terrify me, Shady.”

            “What?” Shady was distracted by something he had spied on the lake’s shore.  “Oh, good, we may not have to walk.”

            He did not get to explain.  The diamond dogs that had been chasing them stood in the reeds ahead of them, blocking their way.

            “Hello little ponies,” said Dagget.  “You have the fire on one side and the lake to another.  The only safe way you have is with us.  It is time to surrender.”

#

            “I look ridiculous,” exclaimed Rarity.

            “You wanted to be grounded.  Just be glad copper conducts magic,” said Tim.  He had wound copper wire around each of the unicorn’s horns, then left a strand dangling on the ground.  “Most of the static magic has bled off and your mane is lying flat again.  You should be feeling better as well.”

            “Yes, well, I do feel somewhat more settled.  Thank you, Tim.”  Rarity finally had the courage to take out her hand mirror, and was now looking for a brush.

            “I rather like mine,” said the Professor.  “You should give more consideration to the fashion possibilities of precious metals.  Copper in particular, though a very handsome metal, is underrated as it is of less value than gold or…owwww!”

            While pushing through the undergrowth the Professor had collided with something hard.  The ponies tore aside vines and branches to reveal a huge stone, about the size of a kitchen table, carved square and with a flat top.

            “That looks like a…Eeeep!”  Fern shrieked and dove for cover.  “It’s an altar stone!  Primitive ponies made live sacrifices on that!”

            “It’s the base of a tower,” said Tim.

            “Are you sure?”

            “Yes, Fern.  You can still see the mounting brackets.  The stains are from rust.”

            “What do you suppose it was for?” asked Applejack.

            Tim stepped up to the block for a closer look.  “This would have supported something relatively light, say an open frame iron work.  My best guess is this used to be a windmill for a water pump.  If we look around we should find what’s left of a well or a pump house.”

            “If that was a windmill then all this land would have been cleared for the crops they were irrigating,” said Applejack.  “Some of these trees are hundreds of years old!”

            “That fits,” said Stranger.  “Most ponies abandoned the Everfree a thousand years ago.”

            There was a startled cry, then a muffled call from the Professor.  “I believe I have found what is left of the pump house.”

            The other ponies soon found the hole he had fallen through.  Applejack began to ready her rope.  “Hang on, Professor.  We’ll have you out of there in a jiffy.”

            “Actually, I was going to propose you all join me down here,” called the Professor.  “Though I suggest you find a better method of descending than mine.”

            “What do you see, Professor?” asked Applejack.

            “I am in the building’s foundation.  Beware, for the ground is unstable.  The sod seems to have woven over what was once the floor.  But there are tunnels carved through this basement, and there are tracks.”

            “Tracks?  Diamond dog tracks?”

            “Yes, but also hoof prints.  The children were led this way.”

            “Well, that settles it,” declared Applejack.  “Fern, Tim, could you please fly us down there?”

#

            Rainbow Dash zoomed down from the canopy.   “You were right, Stone Hoof.  It’s smoke, we got us a forest fire.  The kids probably started it while trying to make a signal fire.”

            “It might have been started by the diamond dogs,” Infernalo pointed out.  “Perhaps they are trying to drive us out of the Forest.”

            Rainbow answered with a derisive snort.  “You don’t know the kids like I do.  I bet it was Scootaloo’s idea.  Anyway, it’s time to saddle up.  We need to take this fire down, Weather Patrol style!”

            “Excellent,” said Navy, flexing his wings and showing off the three raindrops of his cutie mark.  “I’m always up for a little rain making.  Especially after all the walking around we’ve been doing.”

            “How about you, Autumn?” asked Rainbow.  “You do remember how to buck storm clouds, don’t you?”

            Autumn shot her a fierce look.  “Rainbow Dash, I’m on Fall leaf duty because I choose to be.  I happen to like it.  Don’t think for a second that means I can’t buck clouds with the best of you.”

            “Wait, wait, wait!” cried Professor Heart.  “Are you ponies serious?  You want to move storm clouds around?  _These_ clouds?  The glowing, magic soaked, scary clouds?  Do you have any idea what will happen if you play around with them?”

            Everypony looked at Infernalo, who was their magic expert.  Infernalo shrugged.  “Try not to get it on anypony?” he said, weakly.

            “Anypony as close to the fire line as we’ll be working has a lot more to worry about than a little glowing rain,” stated Rainbow Dash.

            “Maybe it’s therapeutic,” said the Mayor.  She went on, dreamily, “We could build a spa someday.  Ponies would come from all over Equestria to bath in our magic showers…”

            “Come to the Everfree Spa, unicorns must wear hazmat suits!” sneered Professor Heart.

            “Let’s get to it before the Forest burns down,” said Navy, ignoring the Professor.  “We just need a signal so we can find our way back.”

            “How’s this?” asked Stone Hoof.  “Timber!”

            Stone buck a tree hard, and it slowly fell over, thundering to the ground as it tore through other tree’s branches on the way down.  “Do you think you could notice that?”

            “Stone!  That tree was perfectly healthy!”  cried Autumn.  “Couldn’t you pick an old, sick one?”

            “A little forest management is a good thing,” said the Mayor. “It lets in the light, right?”

            “Can we just get on with this?” demanded Rainbow Dash.  She zoomed away without waiting for an answer.

#

            Sky landed gently next to the rest of the party.  “All that zooming around is definitely the Blue Team.  They’re using the storm clouds to fight a forest fire.”

            “Is that safe?” asked Mustang.

            Everypony looked at Relic.  She shrugged.  “They should try not to get it on anypony.”

            “I sure don’t want to shower in glowy magic stuff!” exclaimed one of the Chick brothers.

            “The magic saturated rain is an unknown,” said Twilight.  “The forest fire is a known hazard, and it has to be dealt with.  Sky, you want to join them, don’t you.”

            Sky nodded emphatically.  “I really, really do!”

            “You’ll need a signal to find your way back, or else you’ll have to stick with them,” said Twilight.

            “Stick with them?  You mean join the Blue Team?  No way!  I want to find you guys again.”

            “Oh, oh, let me handle it!” cried Pinkie.  “I have something that’s just perfect.”

#

            “You left us to the spiders, Dr. Stalker,” said Dagget.  “That was not nice.”

            “They laughed at us,” whimpered Alpha.  “They looked like little clowns surrounding us and they laughed and laughed and laughed!”

            “Yes, that sound like them,” said Shady.  “Big Top spiders are famous for their sense of fun.”

            “Shut up, Alpha,” snapped Dagget.  “It is time for you and the other little ponies to surrender to us, Dr. Stalker.  Unless you prefer to face the fire, or the crocodiles of the lake, you must come to us.”

            Digger suddenly fell to his knees, wailing and clutching his head.

            “That was a blunt tip, diamond dog,” said Valory, waving her bow.  “The next arrow won’t be.  Do you like jewelry?  I can pierce your ears for you.”

            “Valory!  Is that any way to talk?” gasped Fluttershy.

            “I would only ever threaten one of the bad guys, Miss Fluttershy,” Val protested.  “Isn’t that permitted?”

            “I think I need to speak with your parents about your reading habits.”

            Dagget gave his companion a kick.  “Get up, Digger!  I…Digger?  Are you crying?!”

            “It hurts, Dagget!  It hurts a lot!  She shot me in the face!”

            “Do not cry in front of the ponies, Digger.  How are we to intimidate them if they see you crying?”

            “But it hurts!  It hurts worse than that other place she shot me!”

            Derpy flexed her damaged wings.  “I can barely get the lift to fly.  I’ll never be able to carry any of the kids.”

            Fluttershy looked out across the lake.  “The fire is already creating wind, and it’s not safe to fly in these drafts.  I might drop…if I’m carrying a child I might…I can’t say it.”

            “Oh, don’t worry, Ladies,” Shady drawled casually.  “We won’t need to fly to escape.”

            Shady climbed a huge rock at the lake’s edge.  “If you will all join me, here, we can be underway.”

            The others spared a moment to look a Shady like he was crazy before joining him.  The last atop the rock was Pipsqueak.

            “Are we really going to run away again?” Pip protested.  “But we’re the Ambush Raiders!”

            “Now, Pip, you know we can’t get into a fight until we’ve gotten Angel to safety,” soothed Shady.  The little unicorn lying on his back helped make his point by moaning softly.

            “Yes, Sir,” said Pip, obediently mounting the rock.

            “Everyone comfortably aboard?  Great.”  Shady tapped the rock gently with a hoof and called out.  “George?  Are you awake?  Could you give us a ride to the far shore, please?”

            The rumble that answered him was barely recognizable as a voice.  “Uuuuuuuuuvvvvvvvvv kkkkkkkkkkkooooooorrrrrrrrrssssssssss, dddddddddookkkkktttttttrrrrrr

Sssssssstttttaawwwwwkkkkkkkrrrrrrrrrrr.”

            The “rock” rose and began to swim across the lake with the little ponies on his back.

            “Wait, what are you doing?!” screamed Dagget, jumping up and down, his arms flailing madly.  “Do you not understand?!  You are supposed to surrender to _Me!!!”_

            “Children, wave good bye to the diamond dogs,” said Shady.  “We may not be seeing them again.”

            And they all waved good bye.

#

            “What do we do now, Dagget?” asked Alpha.

            “We dig,” declared Dagget.  “First, to get away from this fire.  Then to find one of our tunnels, one that goes the right way.  We will get ahead of these ponies, we will catch them, and we will teach them a lesson!”

            “Can’t we just go home?” whined Alpha.

            “No!  And Digger?  Stop crying!”

#

            “I think we’re lucky ponies,” said Shadow.  “I’d certainly rather be here than back at camp, cataloguing specimens.”

            “What sort of specimens?” asked Diamond Tiara.  “Rocs?  Bugbears?  Vampire vines?”

            “Beetle larva.”

            “Ewwww!” cried Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara together.

            “Oh, grubs aren’t that gross,” said Shadow.  “But the work is almost as exciting as it sounds.  What can I say?  Grubs are important to a forest’s ecology, and there are a lot of them.  On the plus side, if I discover a new species I get to name it.  How does Melolonthini diamondtiarii sound?”

            “Um…gee, thanks, Shadow.  But, maybe you should name your grub after Quiz instead.”

            “Anyway, you can see why I’d rather be here.  How about you, Gals?”

            “Yeah, I guess this is better than being home alone, in my room, with nothing to do,” grumbled Diamond.

            “You are grounded again, Diamond Tiara?” asked Quiz.

            “Yes, but it’s not your fault this time, Quiz-ik-al!”

            “It was never my fault, Diamond Tiara.”

            Diamond ignored her.  “I wouldn’t have been caught if my best friend had been there to help look out for the truant officer.”

            “I told you I couldn’t play hooky with you!” protested Silver Spoon.  “I couldn’t afford to get caught.  If I was grounded tonight I’d miss…oh, never mind.”

            “That’s right, Silver, you’re going to miss your little game tonight anyway.”

            “What are you missing, Silvey?” asked Shadow.

            “Go on, Silver.  Tell Shadow about your big night,” sneered Diamond.  “While you’re at it, tell him about what you do every week in the back room of the Ponyville Hotel.”

            “You knew about that?!”

            “Girl, you can’t keep secrets from me!  You should know better than to try.  Go on, tell Shadow what a little closet nerd you really are.”

            “Don’t worry about it, Silvey,” said Shadow.  “Like I said, I get excited about naming beetles.  And Quizzie…”

            “Is Quiz!” giggled Diamond.

            “…is not going to look down on anypony for being nerdy,” finished Shadow.  “Really, who in this tunnel is going to judge you?”

            Diamond Tiara snorted, but withheld comment.

            They could hardly hear Silver Spoon’s answer.  “I was going to the Gaming Convention.”

            “You play Advanced Destriers and Delvers, Silver Spoon?” asked Quiz.

            Silver shook her head.  “I don’t play much anymore.  I run the games.  I’m the Game Master.”

            Quiz and Shadow were still trying to come up with a response to this confession when Silver began to cry.

            “It’s not fair!  The Guild of Story Tellers accepted my module for the tournament final.  I was so proud!  And it was going to be so much fun! Only the best of the best role-players make it to that table.  Players like Big Macintosh.  He’s the greatest.  That’s so much better than the munchkins and power geeks I have to put up with just to get a game most weeks.  I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell Snips and Snails I wouldn’t let them roll up alicorns!  But none of that stuff tonight.  Tonight was going to be the best time ever.  Now it’s ruined!  Dumb diamond dogs.”

            There are times even Diamond Tiara can tell when she’s pushed a pony too far.    Shadow moved to comfort Silver Spoon, but Diamond reacted first.  She went to her sobbing best friend, and gave her a little nudge. 

            “Come on, Silver.  You know your game will get rescheduled.  Your friends in the Guild of Geeks wouldn’t trust their precious final to some loser alternate.  They need their star Game Master.”

            Silver tried to wipe away tears with her hooves.  Shadow handed her a handkerchief.   “Do you really think so, Diamond?”

            “Well, duh!  Besides, they’ll be missing most of their players.  Those geeks all think they really are bold adventurers, so most of them volunteered for search parties and stuff.  You know Big Mac did, ‘cause he’s crazy stupid over Miss Cheerilee.”

            “Yeah, that sounds about right, based on the gamer nerds I went to school with,” said Shadow, chucking.

            “I agree.” said Quiz.  “And I sincerely hope that is correct.  Otherwise, that you have been robbed of the great moment you deserve is yet another crime we may charge to Chief Bowser.”

            Silver Spoon wiped her eyes and blew her nose.  “Thanks guys.  Thanks a lot.”

            “I feel I must confess, I now feel some jealousy of you, Silver Spoon,” said Quiz.

            “Jealous?  Of me?!”

            “Certainly,” said Quiz.  “To be able to craft stories, to create worlds, with little more than your imagination, is a talent I admire very much.  It is a talent I am saddened not to have.”

            “Wow, thank you, Quiz.  Um, do you play AD&D?”

            “I have long had a fascination for the game.  The volumes of rules, the dice of geometric solids, and that they let you make maps on graph paper.  I find all that attractive.  But I have been told that I miss the point of the game.”

            “Well…” Silver Spoon failed to suppress a laugh.  “Yeah, kind of.”

            “The Magic Academy I attended before coming to Ponyville had a very active gaming society.  But I was never invited to play.”

            “Oh.”  Silver Spoon could think of nothing she wished to add.

            “Not a big surprise,” muttered Diamond Tiara, under her breath.

            “So, Quizzie,” said Shadow, afraid the uncomfortable silence would stretch on, “What would you be doing if you weren’t here tonight?”

            “Tomorrow I am scheduled for student teaching, I wished to review my lesson plan and brush up on the topic.  It is of concern to me.”

            Diamond Tiara blew a raspberry.  “You’re teaching tomorrow?  Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and get stuck down here all day.”

            “Wait, what?” exclaimed Silver Spoon.  “Quiz, did you just say that you’re _concerned_ about a lesson?”

            Quiz nodded.  “It is a grammar lesson.  I understand the subject, in theory.  But it is something with which I have no practice at all.  There are nuances that escape me.  I fear you and the other students will not benefit from my teaching.  You are all given to an inherent understanding that I do not have.”

            “OK, now you have my attention,” said Diamond.  “What could we possibly be studying that you don’t already know all about, Quiz?”

            “Contractions.”

#

            Sky arrived were the other pegasi were fighting the fire, expertly sheparding a large storm cloud into place.  After a moment’s study she found the perfect place to kick it, causing the cloud to pour rain on the fire.

            “Good job, Sky,” called Rainbow Dash.  “You have some pretty good moves for a Cloud Island pony.”

            “Cloudsdale doesn’t have a monopoly on skills, Rainbow,” Sky answered. 

            “Hey, do you guys know anything about what this rain can do?”

            Sky shook her head.  “The only advice I got was not to get it on any pony.”

            “Yeah, I heard that, too.”  Rainbow jumped on a cloud to squeeze the last drops out of it.  “Luckily, this stuff is just as wet as regular rain.  A couple more passes and we should have the fire out.”

            “Sounds good.  Have you guys learned anything about the kids?”

            “No, but we think we know where they are going.”

            “We think we figured that out, too.  And it was definitely diamond dogs.”

            “We can exchange information after we’re done,” said Rainbow.  “Enough chat, more work.  Go get yourself another storm cloud, Sky.”

            Rainbow zoomed away.  The other pegasi soon followed.

#

            The work of the Weather Patrol ponies was a study in precision.  They picked just the right clouds, and surgically removed them from the rest of the front.  They hardly spilled any rain, except for a bit of drizzle that just happened to fall near a diamond dog air shaft.  The rain was trapped by a dam of dry leaves.  This formed a deep puddle on the lip of the shaft; just waiting for the leaves to give, and for water to pour down the shaft.

#

            The giant turtle came to rest against a grassy bank, and the little ponies climbed off his back.

            “Thanks, George.  I owe you a big one,” called Shady.

            “Nnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooo, ppppppprrrrrrrrrrooooooooooobbbbllllmmmmmm, ddddddddddookkkkkkttttrrrrr, sssssssttttttttttttaaaaaawwwwwwwkkkkkkkrrrrrrrrrrrr.   Seeeeeeee, yyyyyyyyyooooooooo, innnn, thuuuu, ssssssssssssspppppppppprrrrrrrrriiiiiiingggggggggggggg,”

            “Right.  You go find a cozy muddle wallow to sleep through the winter.  ‘Night, George.”  Shady watched George swim away.  “Here’s some advice, Ladies.  If you get a chance to befriend a giant turtle, do so.  You make a friend for life, and your grandchildren’s lives, and their grandchildren’s lives.”

            “He seems very nice,” said Fluttershy.

            “Oh, yeah, George is a fine fella.  And it was amazingly easy to get on his good side.  All I had to do was listen to him.  He speaks so slowly that no one wanted to talk to him, and he was just starved for some conversation.  I will confess, I spent a lot of time reviewing my field note while he talked.”

            “So,” began Derpy.  “Where do we go now?”

            “Oh, I don’t know,” said Shady.  “Our survey area ended at the other lake shore.  I’ve never been here.”

            “Oh,dear,” gasped Fluttershy.  She began to tremble.  “The woods look so….thick…and dense…and mean…”

            “Hey, look what I found!” called Valory.

            It was a large hole in an outcrop, more than big enough for a pony to walk through.  The inside of the hole was plugged by a boulder, but that was easily rolled aside.

            “Oh, no!” cried Fluttershy.  “Oh, no, no, no, NO!  The Everfree Forest is not the place for exploring unknown holes in the ground.”

            All around them the calls began again.  “Oogie oogie, oogie!”

            “Blast!” exclaimed Shady.  “Normally, I’d be inclined to agree with Fluttershy this time.  But it sounds as if it’s building up for another discharge.  We have no choice.  We have to get Angel to safety.”

            Shady led the way with his torch, and the other ponies followed him into the cave.  All except Fluttershy.  Derpy had to go back and push her into the cave.

            “Well, this seems cozy enough…” began Shady.

            There was a roar and a blast of air, and a cloud of frost formed above the pony’s heads.

            “Who dares disturb my privacy!” bellowed someone from the shadows, deep in the cave.

            The ponies froze, petrified with fear, but only for a moment.  A young dragon stepped into the light and began to laugh.

            “Sorry, just messin’ with ya.  I couldn’t resist.  My name’s Draco.  Welcome to my home.”

            


	8. Chapter 8  Getting Deeper

            “Come in, come in.  Just make sure you roll my ‘door’ back over the hole when you’re all inside.” The blue dragon beckoned for the ponies to follow him deeper into the cave.  He was bigger than any three ponies, and Shady estimated that he was a young adult, just out of his ‘teens’ (just how this translated into actual years ponies did not know and dragons wouldn’t say).  Drago went on, “The little one got a pretty bad zap, huh?  Lay her down on my dining room table.  It’s slate, the most anti-magic substance there is.  That should have her back in balance in no time.”

            Shady gently rested Angel on the table, and she immediately perked up and began looking around.

            “Um?  Shady?” said Fluttershy.  “Didn’t you say you couldn’t miss the dragon cave?”

            “Well, yeah, out at my front door, back on the other side of the lake,” said Drago.  “I’ve got it totally tricked out.  It looks like a monster’s face, stalagmite fangs and everything.  Er, you came in the back door.  I haven’t done anything with it yet.  What can I tell you?  This is my first pad, it’s a work in progress.”

            “We’re going to be out here all night, aren’t we?” asked Angel.  She began to pout.  “I’m going to miss DaringCon.  I bought a hat especially for it.”

            “Me, too, Angel,” said Valory.  “I wish I had my pith helmet right now.”

            “Yeah, I don’t know if I’d have let you in, if it was just you guys,” said Drago, indicating the adult ponies.  “You know – dragons and ponies, ponies and dragons, not always the best mixers.  But I don’t leave little kids out in storms.  So make yourselves at home.  I never eat my house guests, I promise.”

            “That’s…nice,” whimpered Fluttershy.

#

            The weather pegasi made relatively short work of the fire.  It helped that as they created little storms on the fire line the wind shifted, and drove the fire back on itself.  The fire couldn’t burn the Forest twice, and without much fuel it didn’t last long.

            “Way to go, team!” cried Rainbow Dash, and there were high hooves all around.  “Now, Sky, tell me about what your Red team discovered.  Bet it was pretty dull, huh?”

            “Actually, Rainbow, it was kind of exciting.”  Sky told her about how Zecora was missing, about the trashed cottage, and misidentifying Relic as the culprit.  The more Sky spoke the more agitated Rainbow became.  Seeing this, Sky kept adding more and more details.

            “I don’t believe this!” Rainbow finally cried out.  “You guys got a crime scene, complete with clues and a witness to interview, and all I got was a can of Wham!”

            “Sorry, Rainbow,” said Sky, with a Smirk.  “I can’t help it if in addition to being smart and good looking I’m also lucky.  See you later, I’ve got to get back to the others.”

            As Sky zoomed away, Rainbow shouted after her, “We’ll still rescue the kids first!”

            Rainbow, Navy, and Autumn flew back to the approximate place they had left the rest of their team, and began to circle.  Soon, a tree crashed to the ground just behind them.  They flew to the sound.

            The three pegasi had just landed next to the fallen tree when they could hear Stone Hoof shout in the distance, “Rainbow, that’s the wrong tree!”

            An incredibly ugly two headed giant stepped into view.  It ripped one of the largest branches off the fallen tree, and began shaking it at the ponies.

            “Stupid ponies make it rain.  Go ‘zoom, zoom, zoom’ all over the place!  Very annoying!  We teach ponies better manners!”

#

            Sky was searching for a cluster of brightly glowing ovals.  Pinkie had run up a tether of balloons, and they had gathered so much static magic when they rose through the canopy that Twilight didn’t have to use a light spell.

            Sky soon spied her target.  But something was wrong.  It was difficult to tell the scale of anything up on the canopy, but as Sky got closer she became sure that these ovals were much too large.

            Soon she arrived, and sure enough, these were not Pinkie’s balloons.  The ovals rested in some sort of basket of woven sticks, mounted atop a huge tree.

            A bird’s nest.  A bird’s nest the size of a house, with eggs as bigger than a pony.

            Then the momma bird came home and discovered Sky.

            “Rrrrrrrooooooooc!”

#

            “Yeow!” cried Navy, just dodging the makeshift club.  He’d flown close, trying to distract the giant.  The ponies thought they could easily outmaneuver the monster, but with two heads he could see everywhere at once.  They weren’t going to fly circles around the giant’s heads.

            “Ponies, hold still and let Sweven hit you!” demanded one head.

            “Wait, Sweven, I forget,” said the other head.  “Tell me again, why don’t we like ponies?”

            “Don’t be stupid, Neodd!  We hate ponies because they are annoying.”

            “Yes, but ponies are cute.”

            “Shut up and hit ponies, Neodd!  And ponies come back here!”

            The rest of the Red team arrived, led by Stone Hoof.  Stone reared experimentally, and found that the highest he could kick was the giant’s knee.

            “Why don’t you take a picture, Madam Mayor?” asked Professor Heart.  “You can put him on the front of the tourist brochure.”

            “Shut up, Professor!”

            “Excuse me, but we are not ‘him,’ we are ‘them,’” said Neodd.  “Very sensitive about that.”

            “Not me,” said Sweven.  “Me happy so long as not called ‘it.’”

            “Ok, next swing, before it recovers from the follow through, we charge,” said Rainbow.  “Navy, Autumn, take the right head, I’ll hit the left.  Buck ‘em hard between the eyes!”

            “Wait, let me try something,” cried Infernalo.  He drew a painted stoneware water bottle from his bag and offered it to Neodd.  “I like you and I want to give you this present.  But you must promise not to share it with Sweven.”

            “What?” exclaimed Sweven.  “But we share everything!”

            “Neodd you must not share your gift with Sweven,” said Infernalo.  “Because I like you, but I hate him.”

            “Stupid pony, we are exactly alike!”

            “Yes,” said Infernalo.  “That is why I like him, but I hate you.”

            Neodd laughed, and reached for the bottle.  “Mine!  All mine, Sweven!”

            Sweven punched him in the nose.

            “You are a stupid pony lover, and I will fix you, Neodd!  Then I’ll get your little pony friends!”

            “No, because I will fix you first!”  Neodd cracked a branch over Sweven’s forehead.

            While the giant fought with themself, the ponies slipped away.

            “I have to show you what I found,” said Stone Hoof, leading them to a fallen tree.  “It was growing out of the side of this outcrop, and it wasn’t very healthy.  I figured Autumn would approve.”

            Autumn frowned, but didn’t comment.

            “Anyway, look at this.”  Where the tree’s roots had torn away from the stone was the entrance to a cave.

            “We aren’t going to go down there, are we?” asked the Mayor, nervously.

            “You said it, I didn’t,” said Professor Heart.

            “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

            “Oh, brother, these guys again?” gripped Rainbow.  “Well, that tears it.  There’s going to be another flash, and we have to get the unicorns to safety.  Everypony, into the cave.”

#

            Sky didn’t zoom away from the roc.  She flew away at what she felt was a reasonable speed to lose the bird.  With the long walk from Ponyville and the firefighting behind her, and a probably all-nighter ahead of her, Sky thought it made sense to pace herself.   She was quite surprised when the roc kept up with her.

            Perhaps when a gigantic bird is chasing you it is not the best time to pace yourself.

            Sky sped up.  She was relieved to look back and see the roc falling behind.  Her relief was short lived.  When Sky turned back to see where she was going she saw Pinkie’s balloons dead ahead.

            “Now I find them?!  Oh, Celestia!  I’ve led the roc straight to my friends!”

            Sky slowed down to let the roc catch up again, then began a gentle turn to the right to get the bird headed away from the other ponies. 

            She looked back, and found that the roc wasn’t following her.  It had apparently forgotten about Sky, and had found something more interesting to investigate.  The Roc had landed in the tree above the Red team, and was examining the balloons.

            Sky did a 180 degree turn and zoomed back to confront the roc.

            “Hey, you!  Remember me?  Nest trespasser?  Don’t you want to chase me away?  If you don’t, aren’t you afraid I’ll come back and scare your chicks some day?  Hey, I’m talking to you!”

            “Rrrroc?” said the roc.  Otherwise, it ignored Sky.  It seemed both confused and fascinated by the balloons.

            “Sky, get away from there!” shouted Big Mac.

            “Sky, come down here where we can protect you!” called Mustang. 

            “Well, she’s dead,” said one of the Chick brothers.

            “Yep,” agreed the other.

            “Maybe the roc just wants to party,” suggested Pinkie.  She began to look through her saddle bag.  “I could give her more balloons if she wants them.  Oh, do you think she’ll like streamers?”

            “Never mind the roc, you guys,” grumbled Relic.  “She’ll wander on home after she’s had a bite to eat.”

            “That’s what we’re afraid of!” exclaimed Twilight.

            Right on cue, the roc lost interest in the balloons and began pecking at a nearby evergreen.

            “Rocs are vegetarians?” Twilight couldn’t believe it.

            “Yep,” said Relic, with a nod.  “Steady diet of pine cones.  What?  Wasn’t that in any of your zoology books?”

            “Oogie, oogie, oogie!”

            “Oh, great, they’re gathering again.  We don’t have much time before the next strike.”  Relic looked up and called, “Hey, Sky, do you think you could lead us back to her nest?”

            “Sure…but, do you really want to go to her nest?  She didn’t like it when I visited.”

            “It may be our best hope,” said Relic.  “And we have to hurry.”

            They hurried.  By the time the ponies reached the Roc’s home tree the galumpalumps had begun to call frantically to each other.  Twilight began to breath hard as the magic in the air grew.

            “Here we go,” said Relic.  They had come to a large stone formation, and Relic began to circle it, looking for something.  “Rocs like to nest near limestone.  They need to eat it, to make their egg shells strong, I think.  And where you find limestone deposits out here you usually find…there!  Found it.”

            Relic pointed to where the roc had pecked away a tremendous gouge in the outcrop.  Beneath the stone was a huge hollow.  The ponies could not tell how deep it was.

            “Quickly now, Dearie, in you go,” Relic told Twilight.  “This next flash is going to be a doozy.  Sky and her friends really riled things up.”

            Twilight climbed down into the cavern.  Big Mac and Mustang took up positions at either side of her, to protect her from anything that might be living in the hole. 

            “I feel better already,” said Twilight.  “The air is much clearer down here.  And it goes on and on; this cavern is really big.”

            “Ah ha!” exclaimed Mustang.  “Look.  Diamond dog tracks.  We’ve found their tunnel network.”

#

            “You say many ponies confuse the possessive ‘your’ with the contraction of you are, ‘you’re’?”  Quiz and Silver Spoon were discussing contractions as they walked.  “Surely, that is not a common error.”

            Silver giggled.  “You would be surprised, Quiz.”

            “I have noticed this, while proofreading essays for Snips and Snails,” said Quiz.  “But I thought it was only them.  Well, also Scootaloo.  Occasionally, also Applebloom.  And Sweetie Belle, and Dinky…hmmm.  It does seem quite common.  You are correct, Silver Spoon.  I am surprised.”

            Silver laughed, and Shadow and Diamond joined her.  “You might want to also cover ‘their,’ ‘there,’ and ‘they’re.’”

            “I suppose I should have grown used to being surprised by…,” began Quiz.  She suddenly stiffened, then she stumbled and had to lean against the tunnel wall to stand.

            “Quizzie, what is it?” cried Shadow.

            “Another magic strike, a very powerful one,” gasped Quiz.  “It has passed, and I will be well now.  But I should not have felt it.  Not here, deep underground.”

            “Oh, great!” exclaimed Diamond Tiara.  “Not only can’t she use any magic, but now she’s going to be falling over every five minutes!  You’re useless, Quiz-ik-al!  We should just leave you behind.”

            “Dia!” Shadow had heard enough.  “You haven’t stopped sniping at Quizzie since you joined us.  What is with you two?”

            “She does not like me,” said Quiz, simply.

            “See, now that’s another thing I hate about you, Quiz-ik-al!  You’re so bland about everything.  It’s like you just don’t care about anything.”

            “I reacted very strongly once, Diamond Tiara.  If you recall, neither of us enjoyed the outcome.”

            “Oh, I recall, alright.  I got three weeks detention.  Three weeks!  It was just a little name calling!  That’s just a one week offense.  And a verbal apology.  But Cheerilee made me give you a written apology, and she posted it on the bulletin board!”

            “I remember your apology, Diamond Tiara.  You spelled ‘you’re’ Y-O-U-R.”

            “Oh, shut up, Quiz.”  Diamond pawed despondently at the tunnel floor.  “Three weeks of cleaning black boards.  And Cheerilee just happened to find a reason to leave the room at the end of every day.  And while she was deliberately not watching, your loser friends in the CMC ‘prepared’ the black boards for me!  I had to clean chalk dust out of my coat every night.  I left colored tracks all the way home.”

            “I did not ask them to do this,” said Quiz.  “However, I confess knowing that my friends made the gesture for me is a good feeling.”

            “The school ran out of colored chalk!”

            “It is true that you were treated unfairly, Diamond Tiara; perhaps out of sympathy for my plight.   I do not blame you for what happened to me when I ran away.  But it is also unfair to blame me.  I assure you, it was not intentional.”

            Diamond just snorted with disgust.

            “Oh, look, an airshaft,” said Quiz, enthusiastic to change the subject.  “That explains why I felt the last flare.”

            “Quizzie, stay away from that,” warned Shadow.

            “It is safe, Shadow.  I can feel it,” said Quiz, staring up the shaft.  “The air is clear.  I believe the last flash dissipated the magic; I have a brief window of opportunity before it builds up again.”

            “Quiz, what are you doing?” asked Silver, nervously.

            “I am sending a message back to Ponyville.”  Quiz’s horn began to glow.  This time it wasn’t sickly green, but her normal beige aura.  “It is outside the range of the Notes spell, but if I execute several teleport object spells between the shelves and my desk….”  She trailed off as she began to concentrate on the magic. 

            Quiz was focusing so intently on her spells that she did not notice the dead leaves drifting down the shaft.

#

            Spike had just made his sixty-fourth attempt to send a letter to Princess Luna, and he was reaching for his broom and dust pan.  He stopped suddenly.  Unlike the previous sixty-three efforts, there was no paper ash to sweep up.

            The letter had gone through!

            “Yippee!” cried Spike, swinging his broom around like a dance partner.  “Now I just have to…um…now what am I supposed to do?”

            He sat down to wait for something to happen.  Spike only then saw the tower of books stacked on Quiz’s desk.

            He might have convinced himself that he had gone all day without noticing a stack of books twice his height.  But he could never believe that Quiz would leave for school with so many books left unshelved.  Further, if Quiz stacked books, she stacked them in descending order of size for stability (with groups of book of the same size in alphabetical order).  This was a complete jumble.  And this was definitely not Twilight’s work.   If Twilight had stacked the books they wouldn’t be on Quiz’s desk, they would be on the floor.

            “Ah, Ha!” declared Spike.  “I’ve found a clue!”  He stared at the books.  “Er…hmmmm…”

            It didn’t make any sense.  “’Kangaroo Tribes of Canterberra and the Eastern Territories’?  ‘Indigenous Mollusks of the Everfree Forest’?  ‘Diseases of the Tail and Flank’?  Huh?  Quiz, you’re killing me here!  C’mon, Girl, what are you trying to tell me?”

            Then it clicked.  Spike began writing down the first letter of each title.  “K-I-D-N-A-P-P-E-D-B-Y-D-D…’D-D’?”  Spike reread those titles.  One was ‘Diamonds – Equestria’s Wonder Mineral’ and the other was ‘Dog Training for Dimwits.’  “Diamonds and dogs?  Oh, diamond dogs!  Great, it’s those jerks again!  Wow, that’s got to be the first time Quiz ever used an abbreviation.  The poor kid must be under a lot of pressure.”  Spike took down the rest of Quiz’s message.  “T-H-I-N-K-G-O-I-N-G-C-A-S-T-L-E…,that’s not a complete sentence!  Poor, Quiz, I bet it hurt to write that!”  Spike finished the message, then sat down to consider his next move.  He did not like the conclusion he reached.

            “Well, at least now I know what I’m supposed to do.”

#

            “Old Belch established this lair way back, I don’t know, back before forever I guess,” Drago explained.  He was clearly enjoying having an audience.  “A few seasons ago he finally got sick of the wet winters, packed up his hoard, and flew north to find some good sleeping weather.  That’s when Iceflame - n – Drago moved in.  Um, that’s me.  Sorry, I don’t usually speak in third person.”

            “Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Drago,” said Shady.  “But I have to confess, I was expecting someone a little more imposing.”

            “You mean you were expecting someone taller?  Yeah, I haven’t spread it around that Belch isn’t here anymore.  It helps me keep my privacy.”

            “I think you’re very imposing, Drago,” said Fluttershy.  “I can easily imagine being terrified of you.”

            “Why, thank you, Miss,” said Drago, preening.  “I’ve been working on my fearsome skills.  I think I have the scary voice down, and I’ve got a pretty good snarl.  My roar still needs work though.”

            “It must be terribly exciting to be a dragon, Mr. Drago,” exclaimed Valory.  “Do you know many other dragons?”

            “Not really.  I’ve done the Dragon Migration, of course, but I don’t hang out with my own kind very often.  I’m afraid dragons around my age can be real jerks.”

            “Do you have your own hoard, Mr. Drago?” asked Pipsqueak.

            “Well, it’s more of a starter hoard, really.  I’ve got a sack, actually.”

            All of the children were excited to be visiting a real dragon’s lair.  All save one.  Angel had made a complete recovery, but her spirits remained low.

            “It isn’t fair.  We can’t leave until this dumb storm is over.  While we sit here safe and comfortable our friends are being taken deeper and deeper into the Forest.”  Angel began to weep.  “It isn’t fair.”

            This deflated everypony’s enthusiasm.

            “Hey, I can help with that,” said Drago.

            “No, that won’t be necessary, really…” began Fluttershy.

            “It would be best if the children just stayed here,” tried Shady.

            “I don’t think we want to encourage this,” muttered Derpy.

            Drago was already pushing aside a large rock.  Under it was a ramp leading down to a tunnel.

            “There used to be a pony city out in the deep forest,” said Drago.  “It stayed around for a while, after the princesses abandoned their castle.  The legend is that Old Belch cut a deal with the ponies that still lived there.  For a modest annual tribute he promised never to rampage in the city.  The terms were supposedly very reasonable.  I believe it.  Belch hated rampaging.  He’d do anything to get out of it.  Anyway, this tunnel was built to let the ponies deliver the gems without having to trek through the forest.”

            “Wow!” gasped Pip, peering into the tunnel.  “How far does this go, Mr. Drago?”

            “All the way to the old city’s center.  Oh, and I’ve found some new side tunnels, so I think the diamond dogs have found it and are using it.”

            Angel’s eyes went wide with excitement.  “We could use this to find our friends!”

            Her excitement was contagious.  “We could rescue them!” cried Valory.

            “And we could teach those mean old diamond dogs a lesson!”  Pip began to leap around, waving his stick.  “Aaaarh!”

            “Let’s go!”  Dinky shined light from her horn down the tunnel.  She was pleased to see magic was working properly down in the cavern.

            “Now, kids, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Shady, effecting his most reasonable tone.  “Kids?  Kids!”

            They had already run so far down the tunnel that all the adults could see were the lights of Dinky and Angel’s horns.  Their shouts echoed through the tunnel.

            “Ambush Raiders!  Yay!!!”

#

            As Quiz completed her spells the aura around her horn began to take on a green halo.

            “Time’s up, Quizzie.  Ready or not, you get away from there!” ordered Shadow.

            “Yes, Shadow, I am ready…Ow!”  Quiz was struck between the eyes by a clot of sodden leaves.  Alarmed, Quiz leapt as far to the side as she could.

            Far above, the pool of magic saturated water broke free and poured down the shaft.  Quiz just barely escaped the shower.

            Water is excellent at containing magic, it holds it like a storage battery.  But Magic wants to be used, and will always try flow to anything or anyone that can use it.  While Quiz was not soaked by the falling magic water, she was still standing in the puddle it formed when it landed.

            There was a dull flash from a small discharge.  All the rest of the magic went into Quiz.

            “Quizzie!”


End file.
